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X7NIVERSITY 


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HISTORY 


OP   THE 


Ui\ITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


FROM  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  CONTINENT. 


BY 

GEORGE  BANCROFT 


Q:1)c  %nt[)ox"Q  ta^t  Bcuision. 


VOLUME    L 

^  B  R  A  fCp 
UNIVERSITY 

KEW  YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY. 


t''\^ 


COPYRIGHT, 

By   GEORGE   BANCROFT, 

1859,  1876,  1878, 1882. 


<# 


PREFACE. 


'i    > 


The  adoption  of_.the  federal  government  marks  the  chief        ^ 
division  in  the   history  of   the  United   States.      The  period       "^^ 
which   leads  to  that_  epoch  has  within    itself   perfect   unity-V" 
and   completeness.      The   narrative  which   has   been   carried 
forward  to  this  broad  line  of  demarkation  is  therefore  now 
laid  before   the   public  in  a  compact   form   after  a  revision        ^ 
by  its  author,  which  must  be  his  last. 

Each  one  of  the  several  p^s^  into  which   the  long  pe-         ^ 
riod  naturally  arranges  itself  has  its  special   universal  inter- 
est.     The   formation   in   the    New  World    of    a   people    of    . 

European_  origia..J01iLJL.political  life  of  its  own  was  the 
most  pregnant  ^Yent_jof  the  seventeenth  century.  This 
subject   is  brought  to  its  conclusion  in  the  present  volume. 

The  epoch  which  will  trace  the  young  American  states  — 
from  the  British  revolution  of  1688  far  into  the  eight- 
eenth century  asserts  its  claim  to  a'^world-wide  character, 
though  of  a  different  nature.  The  wars  of  religion  were 
ended,  and  material  interests  swelled  the  sails  of  the  age. 
The  striving  for  commerce,  which  in  those  days  meant  a 
monopoly  of  commerce,  absorbed  the  great  nations  of  the 
earth;  and  a  monopoly  of  commerce  meant  the  establish- 
ment or  the  acquisition  of  dependent  colonies.  After  the 
death  of  Williaaklll.,    who  would  have  watched  over  the 


#«68l2 


iv  PREFACE.  -^J^/t-CCU 

rights  of  the  Netherlands,  the  unity  of  the  history  of  Brit- 
ain will  in  vain  be  sought  for  among  its  ruling  princes,  of 
whom  all  were  insignificant ;    or  in  its  great  families  in  an 
age  when  the  aristocracy  was   absolutely  supreme,  and  yet 
w4ien  little  is  to  be  told  about  its  chiefs  but  their  factious 
altercations  for  the   lead.      The    unity  resides  in  the  strug- 
gle  for  lordship  over   the  commerce  of  the  world.      Every 
\^C^      q^uestion,  dynastic  or  ministerial,  was  drawn  into  this  mighty 
)L     \    ocean   stream,  where,  in   the   great   naval   race,  the   flag  of 
4!^)     England  was  ever  foremost.     In  these  struggles  Africa  and 
(j(y'     Asia  were  the  scenes  of  wonderful  deeds;  but  every  effort, 
every  contention,  every  war  pointed    to    the   rivalry  of  the 
j)owers   of   Europe  in  North  America.     The  climax  of  this 
period  for  England  is  marked  by  the  double  victory  of  the 
elder  Pitt,  as   minister,  through   Wolfe  on    the    Plains    of 
Abraham,  and,  though   he   had    ceased   to   be    minister,    as 
still   the  "^animating   soul    of    the    English    army    and    fleet 
which  made  the  conquest  of  Havana. 

In  the  epochs  that  next  followed,  no  one  disputes  that 
the  paramount  interest  in  the  history  of  the  world  rests 
on  the  colonies  held  by  Britain  in  North  America. 
^,  In  this  last  revision,  as  in  the  first  composition,  it  is  the 
^^j  '  fixed  purpose  to  secure  perfect  accuracy  in  the  relation  of 
facts,  even  to  their  details  and  their  coloring,  and  to  keep 
truth  clear  from  the  clouds,  however  brilliant,  of  conjec- 
ture and  tradition.  No  well-founded  criticism  that  has  been 
seen,  whether  made  here  or  abroad,  with  a  good  will  or  a 
bad  one,  has  been  neglected. 

The  next  aim  is  lucidity  in  the   ordering  of   the   narra- 
tive, so  that   the   reader  may  follow  the^  changes  of  public 
\    \      affairs  in  their  connection,  and  with   every  page  be  carried 
forward  in  the  story. 

There  is  no  end  to   the   difliculty  in  choosing  language 


U 


PREFACE.  V 

which  will  awaken  in  the  reader  the  very  same  thought 
that  was  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  In  the  form  of  ex- 
pression, many  revisions  are  hardly  enough  to  assure  strict 
correctness  and  propriety.  Repetitions  and  redundancies 
have  been  removed ;  greater  precision  has  been  sought  for ; 
the  fitter  word  that  offered  itself  accepted;  and,  without 
the__surrender  of  the  right  of  history  to  pronounce  its  opin- 
ion, care  has  been  taken  never  unduly  to  forestall  the  judg- 
ment of  the  reader,  but  to  leave  events  as  they  sweep  on» 
ward  to  speak  their  own  condemnation  or  praise. 

WASHiNaTON,  D.  C,  October,  1882. 


7^ 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

THE   UNITED   STATES   OF  AMERICA  AS  COLONIES. 
PART    I. 

THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  FOUND  A  NATION  IN  AMERICA. 

CHAPTER  I. 

EABLT    VOYAGES.      FEENOH    SETTLEMENTS   IN    AMEBIOA. 

PAOB 

^  Columbus,  taught  by  Aristotle,  discovers  the  New  World       ....       7 
(jTJohn  Cabot  discovers  the  western  continent  for  England        .         .         .        .10 

Second  and  third  voyages  of  Columbus 11 

V  Sebastian  Cabot  and  Vaseo  da  Gama  sail  west  and  east  .         .         .         .11 

Death  of  Columbus.     Cabot  enters  the  service  of  Spain         ."       .         .        .13 

-__  Portuguese  voyage.     First  voyages  of  the  French 14 

James  Cartier  discovers  and  ascends  the  St.  Lawrence 15 

Oartier  at  Quebec.     Voyage  of  Roberval 17 

De  la  Roche  attempts  colonization.     Samuel  Champlain  at  Quebec        .        .18 

A  French  colony  at  Port  Royal,  now  Annapolis 19 

Arrival  of  Jesuit  priests 20 

Of  Franciscans.     Last  years  of  Champlain 21 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE   8PANIAEDS   IN   FLORIDA    AND    ON   THE   PACIFIC    COAST. 


V 


once  de  Leon  lands  in  Florida .        .     22 

Explorations  of  Fernandez,  of  Grijalva,  of  Garay  and  Pineda        .         .         .24 

*^f  Vasquez  de  Ayllon .25 

■"^rtes  and  the  north-west  passage 5i6 

Gomez  explores  the  north 26 

Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  in  Florida 27 

^/Cabeza  de  Vaca  discovers  the  Mississippi .29 

He  leads  a  party  across  the  continent '^'^ 

Coronado's  explorations  in  this  west       ,  ,,....     ^^ 


viii  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Discovery  of  the  Colorado  river 32 

Of  tributaries  to  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte 36 

Of  tributaries  to  the  Mississippi 86 

Ferrelo's  exploration  of  the  coast  on  the  Pacific 37  /^ 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   8PANIAED8   IN   THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

Ferdinand  de  Soto 38 

Soto  sails  for  Florida 39 

Enters  Georgia      . 41 

Alabama       .         .     ' 42 

Mississippi 43 

Reaches  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  river 44 

Enters  Arkansas  and  Missouri 45 

Condition  of  the  native  tribes 46 

Death  and  burial  of  Soto 47 

Spaniards  on  the  Red  river 48 

They  leave  the  United  States 49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    8PANIAEDS    HOLD   FLORIDA. 

Florida  for  a  time  abandoned.     Discovery  of  the  Chesapeake        .         .         .50 

Coligny  sends  John  Ribault  to  plant  Florida 51 

Coligny*s  second  attempt.     Laudonniere 52 

Melendez  and  Spaniards  found  St.  Augustine 56 

Massacre  of  the  Huguenot  colony  by  Melendez .57 

The  massacre  avenged  by  De  Gourgues 68 

Extent  of  the  Spanish  dominions  round  the  Gulf  of  Mexico   .        .        .        .69 

I  CHAPTER   Y. 

*  THE   ENGLISH   ATTEMPT   COLONIZATION. 

English  voyages  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI 60 

Parliament  legislates  on  America  .         . 61 

Sebastian  Cabot  in  England  as  grand  pilot 61 

Search  for  a  north-east  passage 62 

Death  of  Cabot.     Richard  Eden's  History 62 

Queen  Elizabeth.     Frobisher's  three  voyages  .         ...         .         .63 

Drake  in  California  and  Oregon 66 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  his  patent .  66 

Gilbert  and  "Walter  Raleigh C7 

Gilbert  perishes  at  sea.     Raleigh's  patent.     Voyage  of  Amidas  and  Barlow  .  G9 

Raleigh  sends  a  colony  to  North  Carolina 71 

The  red  men 72 

Results,  and  return  of  the  colony 74 

New  colony  in  North  Carolina .        .76 


.^^  CONTENTS.  ix 

Raleigh  directs  the  colony  to  the  Chesapeake.     Its  failure     .        ,        .        .76 

Raleigh's  assigns 77 

Gba|-acter  of  Raleigh t  .  78 

City  of  ..a.,  igh     .         .         .        .JJ  •    •         • 79 

Voyage  of  Gosnold        .        .        .        .        . 79 

Zeal  of  Richard  Hakluyt      . .         .         . 80 

Pring^and  Wayraouth 81 

Gorges  and  sir  John  Popham 82 

Character  of  the  early  navigators 83 

CHAPTER   VI. 

ENGLAND    PLANT8   A    NEW    NATION   IN    VIRGINIA. 

Condition  of  England  favors  colonization 84 

The  first  charter 85 

»^ing  James  legislates  for  Virginia 86 

Colonists  embark  . 87 

^^rrive  in  Virginia.     Jamj^stown 88 

Search  for  a  north-west  i^assage 89 

Gilbert  and  Popham  pla^t  the  second  colony  of  Virginia        .         .         .        .90 

Distress  and  end  of  Virginia  on  the  Kennebec 91 

Sufferings  of  the  first  cM»ny  of  Virginia 91 

Its  dissensions.     Wingfield.     Ratcliffe.     John  Smith 92 

Smith's  captivity  and  liberation.     Powhatan.     Pocahontas     .         .         .        .93 

Smith  saves  the  colony  and  explores  the  Chesapeake 94 

Smith  becomes  president)     Impatience  of  the  London  company      .         .         .95 

Smith's  administration  and  character 96 

His  first  voyage  to  New  Ertgland 97 

He  fails  to  plant  a  colony  there.     His  further  career 98 

CHAPTER   VII.  _ 

TIEGINIA    OBTAINS    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

*1  The  second  charter  of  Virginia 99' 

The  expedition  to  relieve  the  starving  colony  wrecked  on  the  Bermudas         .  100 
Lord  Delaware  governor  of  Virginia.     Restoration  of  the  colony   .         .         .  101 

Sir  Thomas  Dale  introduces  martial  law 102- 

Sir  Thomas  Gates  relieves  the  colony 103 

''Henrico  founded.     Jealousy  of  Spain.     The  third  charter  for  Virginia  .         .  104 

Shakespeare  predicts  new  nations  in  America 106 

The  French  settlement  on  Mount  Desert  broken  up 105 

Marriage  of  Pocahontas  and  Rolfe ,      .  106 

Dale's  administration.     Tenure  of  lands ..107 

Pocahontas  in  England.     Her  death       .        .    \  .        .         •        •  .       •         .108 

The  dishonest  administration  of  Argall \.         .  109' 

Yeardley's  administration  brings  life  to  Virginia  .         .         .         .        *         .  110 

v'Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  John  and  Nicholas  Ferrar  .        .         .        . .       .         .111 

I  Acts  of  the  first  colonial  assembly 112 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

*^'irmness  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys       .         . 113 

vEngland  takes  a  strong  interest  in  Virginia.     George  Sandys.     Herbert         .  1 14 

The  earl  of  Southampton  the  foremost  defender  of  the  liberties  of  Virginia  .  1 14 

Great  Emigration 115^ 

Tax  in  England  on  tobacco 116 

Ordinance  for  the  security  of  Virginia  liberties 117 

Sir  Francis  Wyatt  brings  over  a  free  constitution 118 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

*-    SLAVERY.      DISSOLUTION    OF   THE   LONDON   COMPANY. 

Early  history  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade 119 

Slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  middle  ages 120 

Slavery  checked  by  Venice  and  by  the  church        .         .         .        .         .         .  121 

Influence  of  the  jurists  of  France 122  v^ 

Negro  slavery  had  its  origin  in  Africa 122 

Negroes  in  Portugal  and  Spain.     Red  men  enslaved 123/^ 

Negro  slavery  in  the  West  Indies 124 

Opinions  on  its  immorality  and  danger 125 

^England  engages  in  the  slave-trade.     New  England 125 

¥  Servants  and  slaves  in  Virginia 125 

Wyatt's  administration.     Planting  cotton 126 

The  red  men.     Death  of  Powhatan 127 

A  massacre  and  a  war 128 

King  James  contends  with  the  London  company 130 

^^Firmness  of  the  company.     Royal  commissioners  in  Virginia         .         .         .131 

i/Spirit  of  the  Virginians 132 

«/The  charter  is  cancelled,  the  colony  retains  its  liberties 133 

CHAPTER  IX. 

RESTRICTIONS   ON    COLONIAL    COMMERCE. 

Jf     Charles  I.     Yeardley  in  Virginia  .* 185 

Death  of  Yeardley 136 

^      .Harvey's  administration .137 

^     Sir  Francis  Wyatt's  administration 139 

Sir  WilHam. Berkeley's  administration   . 140 

A  second  massacre  by  the  red  men 142 

The  Long  Parliament  asserts  its  supremacy 143 

^  Origin  of  the  navigation  act 144 

^    Commercial  policy  of  Cromwell,     His  war  with  the  Netherlands     .  .  145 

\j   Further  restrictions  on  colonial  commerce 146 

Virginia  capitulates  and  receives  English  liberties 147 

Virginia  during  the  protectorate  of  Cromwell          .         .         .         .         .         .148 

The  Virginia  assembly  asserts  its  rights         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  149 

Virginia  and  its  inhabitants 150 

Religious  liberty  for  all  but  Quakers 151 

Life  in  Virginia 152 


COI^TENTS.  xiii 

PAOK 

John  Winthrop  is  chosen  governor  ite 232 

His  character         .         .         .         .'  233 

The  farewell  of  his  company  . 284 

Their  character  and  object 235 

Arrival  at  Salem 236 

Settlement  at  Charlestown,  Boston,  and  other  places 237 

^Organization  of  the  church     .         .         .         .        • 238 

i^Of  the  government         .         .         . 239 

First  autumn  and  winter 240 

i^Arrival  of  supplies.     Arrival  of  Roger  Williams 241 

Why  he  does  not  minister  in  the  church  of  Boston 242 

The  oath  of  fidelity.     The  qualification  for  suffrage 248 

Elections  annual.     Relations  with  the  Indians.     With  Plymouth   .         .         .  244 

Arrival  of  Haynes,  Cotton,  and  Hooker 246 

Freedom  of  election  maintained 246 

The  people  demand  a  code  of  laws 247 

Religious  union  the  defence  of  the  exiles 248 

CHAPTER   XV. 

THE    PEOVIDENOK    PLANTATIONS. 

Dispute  in  Salem  with  Roger  Williams 249 

He  pleads  for  liberty  of  conscience 250 

Elected  teacher  by  the  church  of  Salem 251 

Salem  disfranchised.     Williams  exiled 252 

He  is  received  by  the  red  men 253 

He  plants  Providence 254 

His  place  as  a  law-giver 255 

His  character  as  a  man 256 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

COLONIZATION    OF    NEVSr    HAMP8HIEE,  RHODE    ISLAND,  AND    OONNEOTIOUT. 

The  town  of  Concord,  in  Massachusetts 257 

Arrival  of  Hugh  Peter  and  Henry  Vane 258 

The  demand  of  English  peers  to  be  hereditary  legislators  in  America  rejected  .  259 

Anne  Hutchinson  and  the  Antinomians g6(I 

Rivalry  between  Vane  and  Winthrop 261 

Vane  a  friend  to  perfect  religious  liberty 261 

Exeter  founded  by  exiles  from  Massachusetts 262 

A  "  Democracie  "  at  Newport 263 

Death  of  Anne  Hutchinson 264 

Great  emigration  to  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut 265 

War  with  the  Pequ'>d9 266 

Their  exterrT'i?«#>n 267 

The  wovemmyut  fca  '  onnecticut  founded  on  free  consent        ....  268 

Differences  becwsprv  Winthrop  and  Hooker 269 

Con8tit\ition  of  Coun€<?ticut 270 


xiv  CONTENTS.      / 

.  /' 

PAOK 

Government  organized  in  New  Haven    .         .         .         .         ,        ,         ,         .271 
New  Haven  plants  towns  on  Long  Island 272 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Enemies  and  friends  of  Massachusetts  in  England 273 

The  archbishops  in  the  commission  for  ruling  the  colonies     ....  274 

Massachusetts  refuses  to  deliver  up  its  charter 274 

The  Plymouth  Council  surrenders  its  charter 275 

A.  quo  warranto  against  Massachusetts 275 

The  king  appoints  Gorges  governor-general  of  New  England  .         .         .  276 

English  persecution  peoples  America 276" 

Hampden  and  Cromwell 277 

Massachusetts  menaces  independence    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  278 

Insurrection  in  Scotland 279 

Growth  of  Massachusetts.     Its  ship-building 280 

It  declines  to  seek  favor  of  the  Long  Parliament 281 

Its  body  of  liberties .282 

Its  towns  and  town-meetings  .         .  • 285 

How  ministers  were  chosen.     How  land  was  held 286 

Massachusetts  annexes  New  Hampshire 286 

Strife  with  Gorton 287 

Refusal  of  allegiance  to  King  Charles 288 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    UNITED    COLONIES    OF    NEW    ENGLAND. 

Movement  in  New  England  toward  union 289 

Connecticut  at  first  reluctant  to  ha  bound       .......  290 

The  United  Colonies  of  New  England.     Conditions  of  union  .        .         .  291 

Slavery  under  the  confederatioji 293 

John  Winthrop  president  of  the  confederacy 294 

Strife  with  the  Narragansetts 295 

Charter  granted  to  Roger  Williams 296 

Government  instituted  in  Providence 297 

Union  of  Providence  and  the  island  of  Rhode  Island  by  charter    .         .         .  293 

Union  of  Maine  with  Massachusetts 298 

Progress  of  civil  liberty  in  Massachusetts 301 

Massachusetts  a  perfect  republic 302 

The  successive  division  of  parties 302 

Danger  from  Presbyterianism 304 

Order  of  the  Long  Parliament  on  the  complaint  of  Gorton    ....  305 

The  general  court  and  synod  of  Massachusetts 306 

The  claim  to  exercise  power  independent  of  parliament  ....  306 

The  appeal  to  the  Long  Parliament 307 

Magnanimous  answer  of  the  Long  Parliament        .         ,  .         .  308 

A  "  Platform  of  Church  Discipline "     .        .        .  ,        .        .308 


CONTENTS.  XV 

The  off«  by  parliament  of  a  new  patent  declined 309 

Croo>^ell  and  the  New  England  colonies 310 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    PLACE    OF   PTJEITANI8M    IN    HISTORY. 

Massachnfetts  complained  of  for  intolerance  .         .         .        .      • .         .311 

Persecution  of  Anabaptists.     Of  Quakers 312 

Free  schools  and  Harvard  college  .         .         .         ..         .        .        ^816 

The  character  of  Puritanism 31P, 

1x3  war  on  priestcraft p)^ 

Its  effects      ; 8|^ 

Its  character  in  New  England Sjj 

Humanity  of  its  criminal  code       , .?i 

Its  effects  on  the  people ,        .  32 1 

Its  danger  from  the  restoration y        .        .  Sfi 

PART    II. 

TJIS  COLONIES  OBTAIN  GEOGRATHICAL  UNITY. 

I  CHAPTER    I. 

THE   FALL   X^Tk   JtSl&TOBATION    OF   THE    8TUABTS. 

Failure  of  the  democrauic  revolution  in  England,     A  parliament    .        .         .  32C 

Council  at  York.     The  Long  Parliament 326 

Death  of  Strafford.     Progress  of  reforms 32Y 

The  Long  i*arli»ment  becomes  »  tymuny.  The  remonstrance  .  .  .  828 
■~';  '■  Nature  of  the  contesit.     Division  of  parties 329 

.ins  and  Independents 330 

Cromwell.     Triumph  of  the  Independents 331 

f  of  eomnions  invaded 332 

execution  of  Charles  1 883 

'  his  execution 334 

ut  of  the  house  of  commons  the  residuary  sovereign         .         .         .  336 

liter-revolution 336 

Cha/iicuer  of  Cromwell 337 

His  paiHiaments 889 

Hi  jtUATal  successes 841 

F-radtath.     His  son  Richard.     Restoration  foreboded    .         .         .         .         .  342 

x!]haracter  of  Monk.     The  restoration  of  monarchy 343 

Character  of  Charles  II.  .  344 

\  CHAPTER   II. 

\  THE   NAVIGATION   ACTS. 

Death  of  Hugh  pWr .846 

regicitles         I 347 

VOL.  I.~SJ       ^ 


XVI 


V'. 


CONTENTS. 


Henry  Vane 

'H?-  *?■  r-itanism  loses  power.     Monarchy  and  prelacy    ..... 

.'  iiJj.  .  vopal  ordination  required  for  church  preferment.     The  Five  Mile  Act 
4 >s»ii  Si*'^r««acy  claimed  for  parliament  over  the  colonies.     Navigation  acts  . 

CHAPTER  m. 

t  ONNEOTIOUT,    EHODE   ISLAND,    AND   CHAELES   H. 

**  '■ 

C'o^  rr  colonies.     Massachusetts.     Connecticut  and  its  friends 

O/q  ^         ot  the  younger  Winthrop 
fj^  i.    History  of  Connecticut 

i      '>4%lf-way  -jo^onant  . 

l&*id        .... 
d  »Dd  accepted 
i    .  lt)tv.li?  oi  the  colony.     It  establishes  perfect  liberty  of  conscience 
I  ^  ^»rt.Ler  hifitrry.    Virginia.     Lavish  grants  of  Charles  II. 


PiOB 

S18 


.  3  2 


.  357 
.  358 
.  360 
.  302 
.  363 
.  364 
.  365 


CHAPTER   IV. 

I  MAflSACHTJSETTS  AND   CHARLES    II. 

Addyress  to  the  king 367 

Eliot\  Christian  conjmonwealth 368 

DeelaratJon  ef  rights  by  Massachusetts 368 

Ad  dreg*  to  C)»arles  II.     Parties  in  the  colony 369 

How  its  deputies  wt r«  received  in  England 370 

Appointmei^  of  royal  commissioners 3*^1 

They  arri vein  Bost( n.     The  political  theory  of  the  men  of  Massachusetts     .  S72 

Their  remonstrance  io  their  dread  sovereign S73 

The  spirit  and  firmn  jss  of  the  people ' .  376 

The  commissioners  i  i  Connecticut  and  in  Rhode  Island  .         .        .         .  876 

Commissioners  in  PI  rmouth.     They  are  worsted  in  Massaehusetts  .  377 

Complaint  of  Massac  imsetts  to  the  king.     The  overturn  in  Maine  .         .        .  378 

Grevxt  debate  in  the  ;  eneral  court  of  Massachusetts 379 

Conquest  of  Canada  proposed.  Massachusetts  retakes  Maine  .  .  .  c6C 
Great  debates-  in  the  privy  council ^iS  1 

CHAPTER  V. 

NEW    ENGLAND   AND   ITS   BED   MEN. 

Prosperity  of  Massa  husetts ^-82 

Population  of  N'ew  ]  ngland  in  1675 38^ 

John  Elrot,  the  miss  onary 384 

The  praying  red  mei 385 

Causes  of  the  war  w  th  Philip  of  Pokanoket 386 

Defeat  of  his  tribe •    /  •  ^^^ 

The  war  reaches  Bn  okfield,  Deerfield,  and  Northfield  .  .  .  .  .  389 
Meeting  of  the  unite  1  colonies.  Destruction  of  the  NarragansetiS  .  .  390 
Towns  burned.     Lai  caster.     Mary  Rowlandson     .....  891 


CONTENTS.  xvii 


Vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war    . 

The  result.     Generosity  of  the  Irish  and  others 

War  in  Maine 


CHAPTER   YI. 

THE  OVERTHEOW  OF  THE  OHAETER  OF  MASSA0HUSET7  , 

Schemes  against  the  charter  of  Massachusetts.     Edward  Randolph  \q  Bos'.  895 

The  colony  sends  envoys  to  England  with  limited  powers       .         .         .  396 

Massachusetts  purchases  Maine.     A  novel  form  of  government      .         .  397 

New  Hampshire  a  royal  province.     Its  general  assembly        ...  398 

The  conJSict  with  Cranfield,  its  governor .jbc  .  G99 

Cranfield  with  his  council  assume  power  to  tax.     The  people  resist    .•:  ■;  400 

The  British  monopoly,  and  the  compromise  suggested  by  Massachusetts  401 

The  quo  warranto  in  England.     The  synod  and  general  court  in  Bostoi  402 

Proposal  of  the  committee  of  plantations,  and  counteraction  .         .         .  403 

Weakness  of  the  magistrates.     Solemn  debates  of  the  deputies      .         .  .  404 

The  deputies  consent  not  to  the  required  surrender 406 

Judgment  of  forfeiture  of  the  charter.     Halifax  on  colonial  government  .  406 

Advice  of  Louis  XIV.     End  of  the  New  England  confederacy        .        .  .  407 

CHAPTER  VII. 

8HAFTE8BTJEY    AND   LOCKE   LEGISLATE   FOE   OAEOLINA. 

Proprietaries  of  Carolina.     Conflicting  claims 408 

New  England  men  in  Carolina 409 

Parties  from  Virginia 410 

William  Drummond,  governor  of  North  Carolina.     Planters  from  Barbados  .  411 

Second  and  enlarged  charter 412 

Character  of  Ashley  Cooper,  earl  of  Shaftesbury 413 

John  Locke 415 

The  constitutions  for  Carolina 416 

Second  draft  of  the  constitutions 419 

Monk,  duke  of  Albemarle,  as  palatine.    The  settlers  at  Albemarle         .         .  420 
North  Carolina  rejects  the  new  constitution.     George  Fox      ....  421 

Travels  of  Fox  in  North  Carolina 422 

An  insurrection  and  a  free  government.   Eastchurch,  governor  of  Albemarle  .  423 

Thomas  Miller,  secretary  of  state,  collector,  president 424 

He  enforces  the  navigation  <icts.     Culpepper's  insurrection    ....  425 

The  insurrection  excused  by  an  English  jury 426 

Sctli  Sothel's  government.     His  deposition 427 

Character  of  the  settlements  in  North  Carolina      .         .         .        .        ,        .  428 

CHAPTER  Yin. 

SETTLEMENTS   IN    SOUTH   CAEOLINA. 

First  emigration  to  South  Carelina .  429 

The  government.     African  slaves.     Dutch  emigrants.     Charleston        .         .  430 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

PA6B 

Self-government.     More  emigrants.     Dissenters.     ScotchJrish       .         .         .431 

Scottish  Presbyterians.     Huguenots 432 

Contest  between  the  people  and  the  proprietaries 434 

The  people  depose  Colleton.     William  and  Mary  proclaimed  .         .         .  436 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MAEYLAND    AFTEK   THE    EE8T0BATI0N. 

Maryland  the  asylum  for  the  persecuted         . 43 Y 

George  Fox  in  Maryland.  Taxation.  Death  of  Cecilius  Lord  Baltimore  .  438 
Importation  of  convicts  prohibited.     "  Baconists."    Restrictions  on  suffrage  .  439 

Protestantism.     Catholics  disfranchised 440 

A  tory  president.     Revolution 441 

CHAPTER  X. 

HOW   THE  STTJAETS   EEWAEDED   THE   LOYALTY   OF   VIEGrSTIA. 

The  people  of  Virginia 442 

A  representative  democracy  and  a  rising  aristocracy.     Servants     .        .         .  443 

Slaves 444 

Parties  in  Virginia  at  the  restoration.  Sir  William  Berkeley  .  .  .  445 
The  royalist  assembly.     The  navigation  act.     Berkeley  as  agent  of  Virginia  .  446 

Royalist  legislation.    A  state  religion    .         . 447 

Persecution  of  Quakers  and  Baptists 448 

The  revenue ;  the  governor's  salary ;  the  judiciary ;  county  taxation  .  .  449 
The  usurping  assembly  votes  itself  extravagant  wages.     False  returns  .         .  450 

Taxation;  suffrage;  means  of  education .451 

An  exploring  party  reaches  the  valley  of  the  Kanawha  .         .         .        .         .  452 

Charles  H.  gives  away  Virginia 453 

Virginia  protests ;  the  king  orders  and  recalls  the  grant  of  a  charter      .        .  454 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE    GEEAT  EEBELLION    IN    VIEGINIA. 

The  Old  Dominion  in  1674 465 

Movement  of  the  people  for  reform        ,        .        ..        .        .         .         .456 

Contests  with  the  red  men 457 

Berkeley  refuses  to  protect  the  frontier.  The  consequences  .  .  .  .458 
The  people  commanded  by  Nathaniel  Bacon  defend  themselves  .  .  .  459 
Bacon  and  his  followers  proclaimed  rebels.  A  new  assembly.  Its  acts  .  460 
Bacon  demands  a  commission        .        .        .        .        •/      *         •        •        *  ^^^ 

Is  again  proclaimed  a  rebel 462 

The  grand  rebellion .  463 

The  meeting  at  Middle  Plantation 464 

Berkeley  and  his  followers  retreat .........  465 

Jamestown  burned.     Death  of  Bacon '       .         .  466 

Vindictiveness  of  Berkeley 467 


CONTENTS.  xix 

PAGE 

Berkeley  is  censured  and  removed.     His  death 468 

English  troops  in  America.     The  results  of  Bacon's  rebellion        .         .         .  469 

Culpepper  in  Virginia  as  governor  for  life 469 

Illiberality  and  dishonesty  of  his  administration 4*70 

His  reappearance.  His  patent  cancelled.  Howard  of  Effingham  succeeds  him    .  4*71 
Rebels  and  kidnapped  men  and  boys  sent  to  the  colonies        ....  472 

Despotism  attempted  and  resisted  in  Virginia 478 

Tendencies  to  liberty  and  union 474 


CHAPTER  XII. 

NEW    NETHEELAND. 

Holland  and  union 475 

Revolution  in  the  Netherlands 476 

The  assembly  at  Hague.     Holland      Zealand 477 

West  India  company  proposed.     The  northeast  passage  to  India    .         .         .  478 

The  Dutch  East  India  company 480 

Henry  Hudson  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  company      .         .         .481 

Hudson  at  Newfoundland ;  at  Sandy  Hook,  New  Jersey 482 

Hudson  sails  up  the  North  river 483 

Trades  with  the  red  men 484 

The  uncultivated  wilderness 485 

The  change 486 

Hudson's  last  voyage 487 

Hudson  deserted  by  his  crew 488 

The  Dutch  traffic  in  the  North  river.     Christiaensen  and  Block      .         .         .  489 
New  Netherland ;  New  England  ;  Albany.     The  United  Provinces  .         .  490 

Strife  of  parties.     Grotius  opposes  colonization  in  America   ....  491 

Effort  to  colonize  New  Netherland 492 

Charter  of  the  Dutch  West  India  company 493 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

NEW   NETHBELAND    AND    NEW   SWEDEN. 

The  Dutch  West  India  company.  The  Dutch  in  New  Netherland  .  .  .  494 
The  directorship  of  May  ;  of  Verhulst.  Peter  Minuit  buys  Manhattan  island  495 
New  Netherland  and  New  Plymouth.  Population  of  Manhattan  in  1628  .  496 
A  church.     Reprisals.     The  board  of  nineteen.     Privileges  of  patroons  .  497 

The  Dutch  monopoly  of  manufactures.     Large  purchases  of  lands .         .         .498 

De  Vries  plants  Delaware 499 

His  second  expedition.     Lord  Baltimore.     A  Dutch  fort  at  Hartford      .         .  500 

Gustavus  Adolphus  and  New  Sweden     .         . 501 

Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany  ;  Oxenstiem 502 

Swedes  and  Finns  in  Delaware.     Swedish  emigration 503 

D  itch  wars  with  red  men 504 

De  Vries  meets  a  convention  of  sachems 505 

A  treaty  of  peace  with  the  red  men 606 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PA6B 

Stuyvesant  governor  of  New  Netherland.    A  prophecy.    Municipal  liberties  .  SOT 

Stuyvesant  at  Hartford 508 

Roger  Williams  meditates  a  truce.     Peace.     New  Albion      ....  508 

The  Swedes  and  Dutch  contend  for  the  Delaware  ......  509 

Stuyvesant's  administration 510 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

NEW   NETHERLAND,    NEW    JEE8EY,    AND   NEW    YOEK. 

Emigrants.     Jews.     Waldenses.     Huguenots 512 

Africans.     The  brewers  resist  an  excise 513 

A  general  assembly.     Baxter's  petition  adopted 514 

Stuyvesant  dissolves  the  assembly.     The  West  India  company  supports  him  .  515 

Claims  of  Lord  Baltimore.     Of  Connecticut,     Stuyvesant  remonstrates  .  516 

The  New  Netherland  assembly  demands  public  protection 

Grant  to  the  duke  of  York.     New  England  soldiers  at  Brooklyn    . 

Stuyvesant  and  the  burgomasters.     New  York  surrenders 

Delaware  capitulates.     Concessions  to  New  Jersey.     The  slave  trade 

The  Elizabethtown  purchase 

Philip  Carteret.     Elizabethtown.     Newark 


.  517 
.  518 
.  519 
.  520 
.  521 
.  522 

James  Carteret.     Invasion  of  Lewistown.     New  York  city  incorporated        .  523 

.  524 
.  524 
.  525 


Convention  at  Hempstead.  Swedes  and  Finns  resist  . 
The  demand  by  New  York  of  annual  assemblies  denied . 
New  York  reconquered.  Louis  XIV.  invades  Holland  . 
Victory  of  the  Dutch.     Rights  of  neutral  flags.    Fate  of  New  Netherland      .  527 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   PEOPLE    CALLED    QUAKEE8    IN    THE    UNITED   STATES. 

Unity  of  the  human  race.     Progress  of  emancipation 628 

Power  of  the  people  in  England.     Progress  of  intellectual  freedom        .         .  529 

Quakers.     George  Fox 530 

His  struggle  for  freedom  of  mind 531 

He  obtains  it 532 

He  preaches  freedom  to  the  people ;  and  meets  resistance     ....  533 

His  converts.     His  purpose 634 

The  Inner  Light.     Its  reality.     Freedom  of  conscience  and  of  mind  asserted  .  535 

Fox  repels  superstition 636 

He  accepts  universal  and  necessary  truths.    The  Bible.    Christianity    .        .637 

Philosophy 538 

Quaker  morality.     Vows.    Power.     Riches 539 

Education.     Capital  punishment.     Imprisonment  for  debt.     War.     Common 

prayer.     The  sacraments.     Mourning.     Oaths 540 

Pleasures.     Dress.     Style.     Hireling  ministry.     Persecution         .        .         .  541 

Quaker  method  of  revolution.     Power  of  truth 542 

Faith  in  progress 643 

Universal  enfranchisement.     Place  of  priesthood ;  woman  ;  kings .        .         .644 


/. 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

Equality.     Thee  and  Thou.    The  symbol  of  the  hat.    Persecution        .        .  645 

Quakers  buy  West  New  Jersey 546 

The  concessions.     The  Quaker  constitution 54*7 

Relations  with  the  red  men 548 

Taxation  by  the  duke  of  York  successfully  resisted 549 

Progress  of  the  settlement .550 

It  elects  its  own  governor.     The  purchase  of  East  New  Jersey       .         .         .551 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

William  Penn.     The  charter  for  Pennsylvania 652 

His  letter  to  its  people 653 

No  monopoly  permitted 654 

The  government.  A  free  society  of  traders.  Delaware  .  .  .  .555 
Life  of  William  Penn.  At  Oxford.  Driven  from  home  .  .  .  .556 
His  travels  in  Europe ;  his  return ;  becomes  a  Quaker.     Imprisoned      .         .  55'? 

In  the  Tower  for  non-conformity 558 

Penn  before  court.  Indicted  and  acquitted.  In  Newgate  ....  559 
He  is  released.  Travels  in  Holland  and  Germany.  Marries  ....  560 
Penn  supports  the  election  of  Algernon  Sidney  to  parliament  .  .  .661 
Contrast  of  the  American  law-givers,  John  Locke  and  William  Penn  .  .661 
Penn  at  Newcastle ;  at  Chester.     Organization  of  the  government  .         .  563 

Penn  and  Lord  Baltimore 564 

Penn  lays  out  Philadelphia.     First  legislation 565 

The  constitution  and  its  provisions         . 566 

Treaties  with  the  Indians 56*7 

Opinions  of  Peter  of  Russia  and  Frederic  of  Prussia.  Witchcraft  .  .  568 
Wonderful  progress  in  1683  and  1684.  Penn's  farewell  ....  569 
Boundary  with  Maryland.  ~Mason  and  Dixon's  line.     Penn's  fame        .         .570 

Quaker  legislation 5*71 

Indian  alarm.     Slavery 572 

German  Friends  declare  against  slavery.     Death  of  George  Fox     .         .         .573 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

DESPOTISM   OF   JAMES   II.    IN    THE   NORTHERN   COLONIES. 

Andros  in  New  York.     Claims  Connecticut 574. 

Character  of  James  II. 575 

His  colonial  policy 576 

New  York.     It  demands  self-government.     East  New  Jersey  .         .         .677 

Cause  of  the  emigration  of  Scottish  Presbyterians 678 

They  resort  to  East  New  Jersey 580 

The  navigation  acts 681 

New  York  charter  of  franchises  and  privileges 582 

The  Five  Nations 683 

Their  treaty  at  Albany  with  Virginia  and  New  York 683 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Andros  at  Boston  as  governor  of  New  England c  584 

His  tyranny  resisted.     John  Wise ,  585 

Strife  of  Andros  with  the  Massachusetts  people 586 

Andros  in  Rhode  Island.     In  Connecticut 587 

Consolidation  of  the  north     . 588 

The  spirit  of  the  people 589 

CHAPTER  XYIII. 

THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1688. 

England.     Clarendon's  ministry 590 

The  cabal.    Shaftesbury 591 

Danby.     Shaftesbury 592 

Charles  II.  supports  his  brother  and  dissolves  parliament       ....  593 

Absolute  monarchy  prevails  in  England 594 

Persecution  of  the  Presbyterians  and  other  dissenters 595 

The  tory  party.     The  whig  party.     The  third  party 596 

The  monarchical  party  divides 597 

The  revolution  of  1688 598 

Revolution  in  Massachusetts 599 

In  Plymouth  ;  in  Rhode  Island 600 

In  Connecticut ;  in  New  York.     The  absolute  sovereignty  of  parliament        .601 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   EE3ULT   THUS   FAE. 

PojJulation  of  the  twelve  oldest  colonies  in  1688 602 

The  people  alone  were  present  in  them 603 

A  people  Christian,  Protestant,  and  free 604 

The  development  of  Christianity  as  an  enfranchising  power  ....  605 

Progress  toward  the  reformation    . 606 

Luther  and  Lutheranism 607 

Anabaptists,     Calvin.     Political  mission  of  Calvinism 608 

Calvinism  for  a  time  the  guardian  of  political  liberty 609 

Calvinism  in  Massachusetts ;  in  Connecticut 610 

Baptists  and  Quakers  in  Rhode  Isla -id 611 

Influence  on  the  red  and  the  black  man 612 

France,  England,  and  the  new  English  nation 613 


•^X  »  R  A  H 

wr    cum 

TTlSriVEKSITT 
CAUFOjJJJi^ 

HISTORY 

OF    THE 

UNITED   STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


INTKODUCTIOK. 

The  United  States  of  America  constitute  an  essential  por- 
tion of  a  great  political  system,  embracing  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  tlie  earth.  Atjrperiod_jwhen  the  force  of  moral 
opinion  is  rapidly  increasing,  they  have  the  precedence  in  the 
practice  and  the  defence  of  the  equal  rights  of  man.  The 
so^reighty  of  the  people  is  here  a  conceded  axiom,  and  the 
laws,  established  upon  that  basis,  are  cherished  with  faithful 
patriotism.  While  the  nations  of  Europe  aspire  after  change, 
our  constitution  engages  the  fond  admiration  of  the  people, 
by  which  it  has  been  established.  Prosperity  follows  the 
execution  of  even  justice  ;  invention  is  quickened  by  the  free- 
dom of  competition  ;  and  labor  rewarded  with  sure  and  unex- 
ampled returns.  Domestic  peace  is  maintained  without  the 
aid  of  a  military  establishment ;  public  sentiment  permits  the 
existence  of  but  few  standing  troops,  and  those  only  along  the 
seaboard  and  on  the  frontiers.  A  gallant  navy  protects  our 
commerce,  which  spreads  its  banners  on  every  sea,  and  extends 
its  enterprise  to  every  clime.  Our  diplomatic  relations  con- 
nect us  on  terms  of  equality  and  honest  friendship  with  the 
chief  powers  of  the  world,  while  we  avojd  entangling  partici- 
pation in  their  intrigues,  their  passions,  and  their  wars.  Our 
national  resources  are  developed  by  an  earnest  culture  of  the 
arts  of  peace.     Every  man  may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  indus- 


2':  ',  ,  \     ^  ;/r  \^    INTRODUCTION. 

'tj-j'^;^vje^;5r  mit;idvi&\free; to  publish  its  convictions.  Our  gov- 
ernment, by  its  organization,  is  necessarily  identified  with  the 
interests  of  the  people,  and  relies  exclusively  on  their  attach- 
ment for  its  durability  and  support.  Even  the  enemies  of 
the  state,  if  there  are  any  among  us,  have  liberty  to  express 
their  opinions  undisturbed ;  and  are  safely  tolerated  where 
reason  is  left  free  to  combat  their  errors.  Nor  is  the  consti- 
tution a  dead  letter,  unalterably  fixed  :  it  has  the  capacity  for 
improvement,  adopting  whatever  changes  time  and  the  public 
will  may  require,  and  safe  from  decay  so  long  as  that  will 
retains  its  energy.  H^ew  states  are  forming  in  the  wilderness ; 
canals,  intersecting  our  plains  and  crossing  our  highlands,  open 
numerous  channels  to  internal  commerce ;  manufactures  pros- 
per along  our  watercourses ;  the  use  of  steam  on  our  rivers 
and  railroads  annihilates  distance  by  the  acceleration  of  speed. 
Our  wealth  and  population,  already  giving  us  a  place  in  the 
first  rank  of  nations,  are  so  rapidly  cumulative  that  the  former 
is  increased  fourfold,  and  the  latter  is  doubled,  in  every 
period  of  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years.  There  is  no  na- 
tional debt,  the  government  is  economical,  and  the  public 
treasury  full.  Eeligion,  neither  persecuted  nor  paid  by  the 
state,  is  sustained  by  the  regard  for  public  morals  and  the 
earnestness  of  an  enlightened  faith.  Intelligence  is  diffused 
with  unparalleled  universality;  a  free  press  teems  with  the 
choicest  productions  of  all  nations  and  ages.  There  are  more 
daily  journals  in  the  United  States  than  in  the  world  be- 
side. A  public  document  of  general  interest  is,  within  a 
month,  reproduced  in  at  least  a  million  of  copies,  and  is 
brought  within  the  reach  of  every  freeman  in  the  country. 
An  immense  concourse  of  emigrants  of  the  most  various  line- 
age is  perpetually  crowding  to  our  shores,  and  the  principles 
of  liberty,  uniting  all  interests  by  the  operation  of  equal  law^s, 
blend  the  discordant  elements  into  harmonious  union.  Other 
governments  are  convulsed  by  the  innovations  and  reforms 
of  neighboring  states ;  our  constitution,  fixed  in  the  affections 
of  the  people,  from  whose  choice  it  has  sprung,  neutralizes 
the  influence  of  foreign  principles,  and  fearlessly  opens  an 
asylum  to  the  virtuous,  the  unfortunate,  and  the  oppressed 
of  every  nation. 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

And  yet  it  is  but  little  more  than  two  centuries  since  the 
oldest  of  our  states  received  its  first  permanent  colony.  Be- 
fore that  time  the  whole  territory  was  an  unproductive  waste. 
Throughout  its  wide  extent  the  arts  had  not  erected  a  monu- 
ment. Its  only  inhabitants  were  a  few  scattered  tribes  of  fee- 
ble barbarians,  destitute  of  commerce  and  of  political  connec- 
tion. The  axe  and  the  ploughshare  were  unknown.  The  soil, 
which  had  been  gathering  fertility  from  the  repose  of  ages, 
was  lavishing  its  strength  in  magnificent  but  useless  vegeta- 
tion. In  the  view  of  civilization  the  immense  domain  was  a 
solitude. 

It  is  the  object  of  the  present  work  to  explain  how  the 
change  in  the  condition  of  our  land  has  been  brought  about ; 
and,  as^the  fortunes  of  a.  nation,  are  not  under  the  control  of 
blind  destiny/ to  follow  the  steps  by  which  a  favoring  Provi- 
dence, calling  our  institutions  into  being,  has  conducted  the 
countryto  its  present  happiness  and  glory.)  1834. 


The  foregoing  words,  written  nearly  a  half-century  ago, 

pare  suffered  to  remain,  because  the  intervening  years  have 

I  justified  their  expression  of  contidence  in  the  progress  of  our 

republic.     The  seed  of  disunion  has  perished ;  and  universal 

freedom,  reciprocal  benefits,  and  cherished  traditions  bind  its 

many  states  in  the  closest  union.  1882. 


HISTOET 

OF  THE 

UNITED    STATES  OF  AMERICA 
AS    COLONIES. 

IN  THREE  PARTS. 

PART  I. 

THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  FOUND  A  NATION  IN   AMERICA. 

From  1492  to  1660. 


\   3   rt  A    /^(    y, 

CHAPTEK  I. 

EARLY   YOYAOES.       FRENCH    SETTLEMENTS    IN    AMERICA. 

The  enterprise  of  Columbus,  the  most  memorable  mari- 
time enterprise  in  the  history  of  the  world,  formed  between 
Europe  and  America  the  communication  which  will  never 
cease. 

Nearly  three  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  Aristotle, 
following  the  lessons  of  the  Pythagoreans,  had  taught  that  the 
I  earth  is  a  sphere,  and  that  the  water  which  bounds  Europe  on 
the  west  washes  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia.  Instructed  by 
him,  the  Spaniard  Seneca  believed  that  a  ship,  with  a  fair 
wind,  could  sail  from  Spain  to  the  Indies  in  a  few  days.  The 
opinion  was  revived  in  the  middle  ages  by  Averroes,  the  Arab 
commentator  of  Aristotle.  Science  and  observation  assisted 
to  confirm  it ;  and  poets  of  ancient  and  of  more  recent  times 
had  foretold  that  empires  beyond  the  ocean  would  one  day  be 
revealed  to  the  daring  navigator.  The  genial  country  of 
Dante  and  Buonarotti  gave  birth  to  Christopher  Columbus, 
by  whom  these  lessons  were  so  received  and  weighed  that  he 
gained  the  glory  of  fulfilling  the  prophecy.  Accounts  of  the 
navigation  from  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  to  Arabia  had 
reached  the  western  kingdoms  of  Europe ;  and  adventurous 
Venetians,  returning  from  travels  beyond  the  Ganges,  had 
filled  the  world  with  dazzling  descriptions  of  the  wealth  of 
China  as  well  as  marvellous  reports  of  the  outlying  island  em- 
pire of  Japan.  It  began  to  be  believed  that  the  continent  of 
Asia  stretched  over  far  more  than  a  hemisphere,  and  that  the 
remaining  distance  round  the  globe  was  comparatively  short. 
Yet  from  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  navigators 
of  Portugal  had  directed  their  explorations  to  the  coast  of 


8  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  i. 

Africa ;  and,  when  they  had  ascertained  that  the  torrid  zone  is 
habitable  even  under  the  equator,  the  discovery  ol  the  islands 
of  Madeira  and  the  Azores  could  not  diver^.  them  from  the 
purpose  of  turning  the  southern  capes  of  that  continent  and 
steering  past  them  to  the  land  of  spices,  which  promised  un- 
told wealth  to  the  merchants  of  Europe,  new  dominions  to  its 
princes,  and  heathen  nations  to  the  religion  of  the  cross.  Be- 
fore the  year  1474,  and  perhaps  as  early  as  1470,  Columbus 
was  attracted  to  Lisbon,  which  was  then  the  great  centre  of 
maritime  adventure.  He  came  to  insist  with  immovable  reso- 
luteness that  the  shortest  route  to  the  Indies  lay  across  the 
Atlantic.  By  the  words  of  Aristotle,  received  through  Aver- 
roes,  and  by  letters  from  Toscanelli,  the  venerable  cosmog- 
rapher  of  Florence  who  had  drawn  a  map  of  the  world  with 
eastern  Asia  rising  over  against  Europe,  he  was  riveted  in  his 
faith,  and  lived  only  in  the  idea  of  laying  open  the  western 
path  to  the  Indies. 

After  more  than  ten  years  of  vain  solicitations  in  Portugal, 
he  left  the  banks  of  the  Tagus  to  seek  the  aid  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  rich  in  nautical  experience,  having  watched  the 
stars  at  sea  from  the  latitude  of  Iceland  to  near  the  equator  at 
Elmina.  Though  yet  longer  baffled  by  the  skepticism  which 
knew  not  how  to  comprehend  the  clearness  of  his  conceptions, 
or  the  mystic  trances  which  sustained  his  inflexibility  of  pur- 
pose, or  the  unfailing  greatness  of  his  soul,  he  lost  nothing  of 
his  devotedness  to  the  sublime  office  to  which  he  held  himself 
elected  from  his  infancy  by  the  promises  of  God.  When  half 
resolved  to  withdraw  from  Spain,  travelling  on  foot,  he  knocked 
at  the  gate  of  the  monastery  of  La  Kabida,  at  Palos,  to  crave 
the  needed  charity  of  food  and  shelter  for  himself  and  his 
little  son  whom  he  led  by  the  hand,  the  destitute  and  neglected 
seaman,  in  his  naked  poverty,  was  still  the  promiser  of  king- 
doms ;  holding  firmly  in  his  grasp  "  the  keys  of  the  ocean 
sea,"  claiming,  as  it  were  from  Heaven,  the  Indies  as  his  own, 
and  '^  diving  them  as  he  pleased."  It  was  then  that  through 
the  prioiwl'the  convent  his  holy  confidence  found  support  in 
Isabella,  tnS 'queen  of  Castile;  and  in  1492,  with  three  poor 
vessels,  of  which  the  largest  only  was  decked,  embarking  from 
Palos  for  the  Indies  by  way  of  the  west,  Columbus  gave  a 


1492-1497.         J.  EARLY  VOYAGES.  9 


v-r^vx     ? 


New  World  to  Castile  and  Leon,  "  the  like  of  which  was  never 
done  by  any  man  in  ancient  or  in  later  times." 

Successive  popes  of  Rome  had  already  conceded  to  the 
Portuguese  the  undiscovered  world  from  Cape  Bojador  in 
Africa  easterly  to  the  Indies.  To  prevent  collision  between 
Christian  princes,  on  the  fourth  of  May,  1493,  Alexander  YI. 
published  a  bull,  in  which  he  drew  an  imaginary  line  from  the 
north  pole  to  the  south  a  hundred  leagues  west  of  the  Azores, 
assigning  to  Spain  all  that  lies  to  the  west  of  that  boundary, 
while  all  to  the  east  of  it  was  confirmed  to  Portugal. 

The  commerce  of  the  middle  ages,  concentrated  upon  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  had  enriched  the  Italian  republics,  and 
had  been  chiefly  engrossed  by  their  citizens.  After  the  fall 
of  the  Byzantine  empire  the  Christian  states  desired  to  escape 
the  necessity  of  strengthening  the  Ottoman  power  by  the  pay- 
ment of  tribute  on  all  intercourse  with  the  remoter  east. 
Maritime  enterprise,  transferring  its  home  to  the  borders  of 
the  Atlantic,*:  set  before  itself  as  its  great  problem  the  discov- 
ery of  a  pathway  by  sea  to  the  Indies ;  and  England,  which 
like  Spain  and  Portugal  looked  out  upon  the  ocean,  became  a 
competitor  for  the  unknown  world. 

The  wars  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  had  ter- 
minated with  the  intermarriage  of  the  heirs  of  the  two  fami- 
lies ;  the  spirit  of  commercial  activity  began  to  be  successfully 
fostered  ;  and  the  marts  of  England  were  frequented  by  Lom- 
bard adventurers.  The  fisheries  of  the  north  had  long  tempted 
the  merchants  of  Bristol  to  an  intercourse  with  Iceland ;  and 
had  matured  the  nautical  skill  that  could  buffet  the  worst 
storms  of  the  Atlantic.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  some  uncer- 
tain traditions  respecting  the  remote  discoveries  which  Ice- 
landers had  made  in  Greenland  toward  the  north-west,  "where 
the  lands  nearest  meet,"  should  have  excited  "  firm  and  preg- 
nant conjectures."  The  achievement  of  Columbus,  revealing 
the  wonderful  truth  of  which  the  germ  may  have  existed  in 
the  imagination  of  every  thoughtful  mariner,  won  the  admira- 
tion which  belonged  to  genius  that  seemed  more  divine  than 
human ;  and  "  there  was  great  talk  of  it  in  all  the  court  of 
Henry  YII."  A  feeling  of  disappointment  remained,  that  a 
series  of   disasters  had  defeated  the  wish  of   the  illastrious 

TOL.  I. — 3 


10  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  r, 

Genoese  to  make  his  voyage  of  essay  under  the  flag  of  Eng- 
land.  It  was,  therefore,  not  ditiicult  for  John  Cabot,  a  denizen 
of  Yen  ice,  residing  at  Bristol,  to  interest  that  politic  king  in 
plans  for  discovery.  On  the  fifth  of  March,  1496,  he  obtained 
under  the  great  seal  a  commission  empowering  himself  and 
his  three  sons,  or  either  of  them,  their  heirs,  or  their  deputies, 
to  sail  into  the  eastern,  western,  or  northern  sea  with  a  fleet  of 
five  ships,  at  their  own  expense,  in  search  of  islands,  prov- 
inces, or  regions  hitherto  unseen  by  Christian  people  ;  to  affix 
the  banners  of  England  on  city,  island,  or  continent ;  and,  as 
vassals  of  the  English  crown,  to  possess  and  occupy  the  terri- 
tories that  might  be  found.  It  was  further  stipulated  in  this 
"  most  ancient  American  state  paper  of  England,"  that  the 
patentees  should  be  strictly  bound,  on  every  return,  to  land  at 
the  port  of  Bristol,  and  to  pay  to  the  king  one  fifth  part  of 
their  gains ;  while  the  exclusive  right  of  frequenting  all  the 
countries  that  might  be  found  was  reserved  to  them  and  to 
their  assigns,  without  limit  of  time. 

Under  this  patent,  which,  at  the  first  direction  of  English 
enterprise  toward  America,  embodied  the  worst  features  of 
monopoly  and  commercial  restriction,  John  Cabot,  taking  with 
him  his  son  Sebastian,  embarked  in  quest  of  new  islands  and 
a  passage  to  Asia  by  the  north-west.  After  sailing  prosperously, 
as  he  reported,  for  seven  hundred  leagues,  on  the  twenty-fourth 
day  of  June,  1497,  early  in  the  morning,  almost  fourteen 
months  before  Columbus  on  his  third  voyage  came  in  sight  of 
the  main,  and  more  than  two  years  before  Amerigo  Yespucci 
sailed  west  of  the  Canaries,  he  discovered  the  western  conti- 
nent, probably  in  the  latitude  of  about  fifty-six  degrees,  among 
the  dismal  clifls  of  Labrador.  He  ran  along  the  coast  for 
many  leagues,  it  is  said  even  for  three  hundred,  and  landed 
on  what  he  considered  to  be  the  territory  of  the  Grand  Cham. 
But  he  encountered  no  human  being,  although  there  were 
marks  that  the  region  was  inhabited.  He  planted  on  the  land 
a  large  cross  with  the  flag  of  England,  and,  from  affection  for 
the  republic  of  Yenice,  he  added  the  banner  of  St.  Mark, 
which  had  never  before  been  borne  so  far.  On  his  homeward 
voyage  he  saw  on  his  right  hand  two  islands,  which  for  want 
of  provisions  he  could  not  stop  to  explore.     After  an  absence 


1497-1498.  EARLY  VOYAGES.  H 

of  three  months  the  happy  discoverer  re-entered  Bristol  harbor, 
where  due  honors  awaited  him.  The  king  gave  him  money, 
and  encouraged  him  to  continue  hAjareer.  The  people  called 
him  the  great  admiral ;  he  dresMT  in  silk  ;  and  the  English, 
and  even  Venetians  who  chan(^  to  be  at  Bristol,  ran  after 
him  with  such  zeal  that  he  could  enlist  for  a  new  voyage  as 
many  as  he  pleased. 

A  second  time  Columbus  had  brought  back  tidings  from 
the  isles  which  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  steadfastly  believed  to 
be  the  outposts  of  India.  It  appeared  to  be  demonstrated  that 
ships  might  pass  by  the  west  into  those  rich  eastern  realms 
where,  according  to  the  popular  belief,  the  earth  teemed  with 
spices,  and  imperial  palaces  glittered  with  pearls  and  rubies, 
with  diamonds  and  gold.  On  the  third  day  of  the  month  of 
February  next  after  his  return,  "  John  Kaboto,  Yenician,"  ac- 
cordingly obtained  a  power  to  take  up  ships  for  another  voy- 
age, at  the  rates  fixed  for  those  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
king,  and  once  more  to  set  sail  with  as  many  companions  as 
would  go  with  him  of  their  own  will.  With  this  license  every 
trace  of  John  Cabot  disappears.  He  may  have  died  before  the 
summer ;  but  no  one  knows  certainly  the  time  or  the  place  of 
his  end,  and  it  has  not  even  been  ascertained  in  what  country 
this  finder  of  a  continent  first  saw  the  light. 

His  second  son,  Sebastian  Cabot,  probably  a  Yenetian  by 
birth,  a  cosmographer  by  profession,  succeeded  to  the  designs 
of  his  father.  He  reasoned  justly,  that,  as  the  degrees  of 
longitude  decrease  toward  the  north,  the  shortest  route  to 
China  and  Japan  lies  in  the  highest  practicable  latitude ;  and 
with  youthful  fervor  he  devoted  himself  to  the  experiment. 
In  May,  1498,  Columbus,  radiant  with  a  glory  that  shed  a 
lustre  over  his  misfortunes  and  griefs,  calling  on  the  Holy 
Trinity  with  vows,  and  seeing  paradise  in  his  dreams,  em- 
barked on  his  third  voyage  to  discover  the  main  land,  and  to 
be  sent  back  in  chains.  In  the  early  part  of  the  same  month 
Sebastian  Cabot,  then  not  much  more  than  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  chiefly  at  his  own  cost,  led  forth  two  ships  and  a  large 
company  of  English  volunteers,  to  find  the  north-west  passage 
to  Cathay  and  Japan.  A  few  days  after  the  English  navigator 
had  left  the  port  of  Bristol,  Yasco  da  Gama,  of  Portugal,  as 


12  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paeti.;  ch.  i. 

daring  and  almost  as  young,  having  turned  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  cleared  the  Straits  of  Mozambique,  and  sailed  beyond 
Arabia  Felix,  came  in  si^<  of  the  mountains  of  Hindostan ; 
and  his  happy  crew,  decking  out  his  little  fleet  with  flags, 
sounding  trumpets,  praising -feod,  and  full  of  festivity  and 
gladness,  steered  into  the  harbor  of  Calicut.  Meantime  Cabot 
proceeded  toward  the  north  till  icebergs  compelled  him  to 
change  his  course.  The  coast  to  which  he  was  now  borne  was 
unobstructed  by  frost.  He  saw  there  stags  larger  than  those 
of  England,  and  bears  that  plunged  into  the  water  to  take  fish 
with  their  claws.  The  fish  swarmed  in  such  shoals  they 
seemed  even  to  stay  the  speed  of.  his  vessels,  so  that  he  gave 
to  the  country  the  name  of  Bacallaos,  a  word  of  German  ori- 
gin, which  still  lingers  on  the  eastern  side  of  Newfoundland, 
and  has  passed  into  the  language  of  the  Italians,  as  well  as  the 
Portuguese  and  Spanish,  to  designate  the  cod.  Coasting  the 
shore,  he  found  the  natives  of  those  regions  clad  in  skins  of 
beasts ;  but  they  were  not  without  the  faculty  of  reason,  and  in 
many  places  were  acquainted  with  the  use  of  copper.  In  the 
early  part  of  his  voyage  he  had  been  so  far  to  the  north  that 
in  the  month  of  July  the  light  of  day  was  almost  continuous ; 
before  he  turned  homeward,  in  the  late  autumn,  he  believed 
he  had  attained  the  latitude  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  the 
longitude  of  Cuba.  A  gentle  westerly  current  appeared  to 
prevail  in  the  northern  sea. 

Such  is  the  meagre  account  given  by  Sebastian  Cabot, 
through  his  frien^  Peter  Martyr,  the  historian  of  the  ocean,  of 
that  great  voyage  which  was  undertaken  by  the  authority  of 
"  the  most  wise  "  Prince  Henry  YIL,  and  made  known  to  Eng- 
land a  country  "  much  larger  than  Christendom." 

Thus  the  year  1498  stands  singularly  famous  in  the  annals 
of  the  sea.  In  May,  Yasco  da  Gama  reached  Hindostan  by 
way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  in  August,  Columbus  discov- 
ered the  firm  land  of  South  America  and  the  river  Oronoco, 
which  seemed  to  him  to  flow  from  some  large  empire,  or  per- 
haps even  from  the  terrestrial  paradise  itself ;  and,  in  the  sum- 
mer, Cabot,  the  youngest  of  them  all,  made  known  to  the 
world  the  coast  line  of  the  present  United  States  as  far  as  the 
entrance  to  the  Chesapeake.     The  fame  of  Columbus  was  em- 


1498-1527.  EARLY  VOYAGES.  13 

balmed  in  the  poetry  of  Tasso ;  Da  Gama  is  the  hero  of  the 
national  epic  of  Portugal ;  but  the  elder  Cabot  was  so  little 
celebrated  that  even  the  reality  of  his  voyage  has  been  denied  ; 
and  Sebastian  derived  neither  benefit  nor  immediate  renown 
from  his  expedition.  His  main  object  had  been  the  discovery 
of  a  north-western  passage  to  Asia,  and  in  this  respect  liis  voy- 
age was  a  failure ;  while  Da  Gama  w^as  cried  up  by  all  the 
world  for  having  found  the  way  by  the  south-east.  For  the 
next  half  century  it  was  hardly  borne  in  mind  that  the  Vene- 
tian and  his  son  had,  in  two  successive  years,  reached  the  con- 
tinent of  North  America,  before  Columbus  came  upon  the  low 
coast  of  Guiana.  But  England  acquired  through  their  energy 
such  a  right  to  IN'orth  America  as  this  priority  could  confer. 
The  successors  of  Henry  YII.  recognised  the  claims  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  only  so  far  as  they  actually  occupied  the  terri- 
tories to  which  they  laid  pretension ;  and,  at  a  later  day,  the 
English  parliament  and  the  English  courts  derided  a  title 
founded  not  upon  occupancy,  but  upon  the  award  of  a  Eoman 
pontiff. 

*'  Lord,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit,"  were  the 
words  of  Columbus,  as  on  Ascension  Day,  1506,  he  breathed 
his  last.  His  great  discovery  was  the  triumph  of  free  mind. 
In  the  year  of  his  death,  Copernicus,  like  him,  emancipated 
from  authority,  attained  the  knowledge  of  the  true  theory  of 
our  solar  system. 

For  nearly  sixty  years,  during  a  period  while  marine  ad- 
venture engaged  the  most  intense  public  curiosity,  Sebastian 
Cabot,  from  whom  England  derived  a  claim  to  our  shores,  was 
reverenced  for  his  knowledge  of  cosmography  and  his  skill  in 
navigation.  On  the  death  of  Henry  YII.  he  was  called  out  of 
England  by  the  command  of  Ferdinand,  the  Catholic  king  of 
Castile,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  council  for  the  ]N"ew 
Indies,  ever  cherishing  the  hope  to  discover  "  that  hidden  se- 
cret of  nature,"  the  direct  passage  to  Asia.  In  1518  he  was 
named  Pilot  Major  of  Spain,  and  no  one  could  guide  a  ship  to 
the  Indies  whom  he  had  not  first  examined  and  approved. 
He  attended  the  congress  which  in  April,  1524:,  assembled  at 
Badajoz  to  decide  on  the  respective  pretensions  of  Portugal 
and  Spain  to  the  islands  of  the  Moluccas.     A  company  having 


14  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  parti.;  oh.  i. 

been  formed  at  Seville  for  commerce  with  the  Indies,  in  April, 
1526,  he  took  command  of  an  expedition  with  plans  of  passing 
into  the  Pacific,  examining  the  south-western  coast  of  the 
American  continent,  and  opening  a  trade  with  the  Moluccas. 
His  larger  purposes  being  defeated  bj  a  mutiny,  he  entered 
the  Plata,  and  discovered  the  Parana  and  Paraguay.  Peturn- 
ing  to  Seville  in  July,  1530,  he  was  reinstated  in  his  high 
office  by  the  Emperor  Charles  Y. 

Manuel,  king  of  Portugal  in  its  happiest  years,  grieving  at 
his  predecessor's  neglect  of  Columbus,  was  moved  by  emulation 
to  despatch  an  expedition  for  west  and  north-west  discovery. 
In  the  summer  of  1501  two  caravels,  under  the  command  of 
Gaspar  Cortereal,  ranged  the  coast  of  JSTorth  America  for  six 
or  seven  hundred  miles,  till,  somewhere  to  the  south  of  the 
fiftieth  degree,  they  were  stopped  by  ice.  Of  the  country 
along  which  he  sailed  he  admired  the  verdure,  and  the  stately 
forests  in  which  pines,  large  enough  for  masts  and  yards, 
promised  an  object  of  gainful  commerce.  But,  with  the  Por- 
tuguese, men  were  an  article  of  traffic ;  and  Cortereal  freighted 
his  ships  with  more  than  fifty  Indians,  whom,  on  his  return 
in  October,  he  sold  as  slaves.  The  name  of  Labrador,  trans- 
ferred from  the  territory  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  a  more 
northern  coast,  is  perhaps  the  only  permanent  trace  of  Portu- 
guese adventure  within  the  limits  of  J^orth  America. 

The  French  competed  without  delay  for  the  IS'ew  World. 
Within  seven  years  of  the  discovery  of  the  continent  the  fish- 
eries of  J^ewf oundland  were  known  to  the  hardy  sailors  of 
Brittany  and  Normandy,  and  they  continued  to  be  frequented. 
The  island  of  Cape  Breton  took  its  name  from  their  remem- 
brance of  home ;  and  in  France  it  was  usual  to  esteem  them 
the  discoverers  of  tlie  country.  A  map  of  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  was  drawn  in  1506  by  Denys,  a  citizen  of  Honfleur. 

In  1508,  savages  from  the  north-eastern  coast  had  been 
brought  to  France  ;  ten  years  later  plans  of  colonization  in 
Korth  America  were  suggested  by  De  Lery  and  Saint-Just. 

There  exists  a  letter  to  Henry  YIIL,  from  St.  John,  New- 
foundland, written  in  August,  1527,  by  an  English  captain,  in 
which  he  declares  he  found  in  that  one  harbor  eleven  sail 
of  Normans  and  one  Breton,  engaged  in   the   fishery.      The 


1527-1536.  FRENCH   SETTLEMENTS.  15 

French  king,  engrossed  by  tlie  unsuccessful  rivalry  with 
Charles  Y.,  could  hardly  respect  so  humble  an  interest.  But 
Chabot,  admiral  of  France,  a  man  of  bravery  and  influence, 
acquainted  by  his  office  with  the  fishermen  on  whose  vessels 
he  levied  some  small  exactions  for  his  private  emolument,  in- 
terested Francis  in  the  design  of  exploring  and  colonizing  the 
New  World.  James  Cartier,  a  seaman  of  St.  Malo,  was  selected 
to  lead  the  expedition.  His  several  voyages  had  a  permanent 
effect  in  guiding  the  attention  of  France  to  the  region  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  On  the  twentieth  of  April,  1534,  he,  with  two 
ships,  left  the  harbor  of  St.  Malo^  and  prosperous  weather 
brought  him  on  the  tenth  of  May  to  the  coasts  of  Newfound- 
land. Having  almost  circumnavigated  the  island,  he  turned 
to  the  south,  and,  crossing  the  gulf,  entered  the  bay,  which  he 
called  Des  Chaleurs,  from  the  heats  of  midsummer.  Finding 
no  passage  to  the  west,  in  July  he  sailed  along  the  coast,  as  far 
as  the  smaller  inlet  of  Gaspe.  There,  upon  a  point  of  land  at 
the  entrance  of  the  haven,  a  lofty  cross  was  raised,  bearing  a 
shield  with  the  lilies  of  France  and  an  appropriate  inscription. 
Leaving  the  bay  of  Gaspe,  Cartier  in  August  discovered  the 
great  river  of  Canada,  and  ascended  it  till  he  could  discern 
land  on  either  side.  As  he  was  unprepared  to  remain  during 
the  winter,  on  the  ninth  of  that  month  he  steered  for  Europe, 
and  on  the  fifth  of  September  his  fleet  entered  the  harbor  of 
St.  Malo.  His  native  city  and  France  were  filled  with  the 
fame  of  his  discoveries. 

The  court  listened  to  the  urgency  of  the  friends  of  Cartier ; 
a  new  commission  was  issued  ;  three  well-furnished  ships  were 
provided  by  the  king;  and  some  of  the  young  nobility  of 
France  volunteered  to  join  the  new  expedition.  The  whole 
company,  repairing  to  the  cathedral,  received  absolution  and 
the  bishop's  blessing,  and.  in  May,  1535,  sailed  for  the  New 
World,  full  of  hopes  of  discoveries  and  plans  of  coloniza- 
tion. 
Lf /  After  a  stormy  voyage  they  arrived  within  sight  of  New- 
/  foundland.  Carried  to  the  west  of  it  by  a  route  not  easily 
traced,  in  August,  on  the  day  of  Saint  Lawrence,  they  gave 
the  name  of  that  martyr  to  a  part  of  the  noble  gulf  which 
opened  before  them  ;  a  name  which  has  gradually  extended  to 


16  COLOOTAL  HISTORY.  paetl;  ch.  i 

the  whole,  and  to  the  river.  After  examining  the  isle  of  An- 
ticosti,  they  reached  in  September  a  pleasant  harbor  in  the 
isle  since  called  Orleans.  The  natives,  Indians  of  Algonkin 
descent,  received  them  with  unsuspecting  hospitality.  After 
exploring  the  island  and  adjacent  shore,  Cartier  moved  his 
two  large  vessels  safely  into  the  deep  water  of  the  river  now 
known  as  the  St.  Charles,  and  in  his  galiot  sailed  up  the  ma- 
jestic stream  to  the  chief  Indian  settlement  on  the  Island  of 
Hochelaga.  The  language  of  its  inhabitants  proves  them  to 
have  been  of  the  Huron  family  of  tribes.  The  town  lay  at 
the  foot  of  a  hill,  which  he  climbed.  As  he  reached  the  sum- 
mit he  was  moved  to  admiration  by  the  prospect  before  him 
of  woods  and  waters  and  mountains.  Imagination  presented 
it  as  the  emporium  of  inland  commerce,  and  the  metropolis  of 
a  continental  province ;  filled  with  bright  anticipations,  he 
called  the  hill  Mont-Real,  and  time,  that  has  transferred  the 
name  to  the  island,  is  realizing  his  visions.  Cartier  gathered 
from  the  Indians  some  indistinct  account  of  the  countries  now 
contained  in  northern  Vermont  and  I^ew  York ;  of  a  cataract 
at  the  west  end  of  Lake  Ontario;  and  of  the  waters  now 
known  as  the  bay  of  Hudson.  Rejoining  his  ships,  the  win- 
ter, rendered  frightful  by  the  ravages  of  the  scurvy,  was  passed 
where  they  were  anchored.  At  the  approach  of  spring,  a 
cross,  erected  upon  the  land,  bore  a  shield  with  the  arms  of  his 
country,  and  an  inscription  declaring  Francis  to  be  the  right- 
ful king  of  this  new-found  realm,  to  which  the  Breton  mariner 
gave  the  name  of  IS^ew  France.  On  the  sixth  of  July,  1536, 
he  regained  St.  Malo. 

The  description  which  Cartier  gave  of  the  country  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  furnished  arguments  against  attempting  a  colony. 
The  severity  of  the  climate  terrified  even  the  inhabitants  of 
the  north  of  France ;  and  no  mines  of  silver  and  gold,  no 
veins  abounding  in  diamonds  and  precious  stones,  had  been 
promised  by  the  faithful  narrative  of  the  voyage.  Three  or 
four  years,  therefore,  elapsed  before  plans  of  colonization  were 
renewed.  Yet  imagination  did  not  fail  to  anticipate  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  state  upon  the  fertile  banks  of  a  river  which 
surpassed  all  the  streams  of  Europe  in  grandeur,  and  flowed 
through  a  country  situated  between  nearly  the  same  parallels 


1540-1603.  FPwENCH  SETTLEMENTS.  17 

as  France.  Soon  after  a  short  peace  had  terminated  the  third 
desperate  struggle  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  Y.,  atten- 
tion to  America  was  again  awakened ;  men  at  court  deemed  it 
unworthy  a  gallant  nation  to  abandon  the  acquisition ;  and  in 
January,  1540,  a  nobleman  of  Picardy,  Francis  de  la  Roque, 
Lord  of  Roberval,  a  man  of  provincial  distinction,  sought  and 
obtained  a  commission  as  lord  of  the  unknown  land  then  called 
Norimbega,  and  viceroy,  with  full  regal  authority,  over  the 
immense  territories  and  islands  which  lie  near  the  gulf  or  along 
the  river  St.  Lawrence.  But  the  ambitious  nobleman  could 
not  dispense  with  the  services  of  the  former  naval  commander, 
who  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  king.  Cartier  was  accord- 
ingly in  October  appointed  captain-general  and  chief  pilot  of 
the  expedition ;  he  was  directed  to  collect  persons  of  every 
trade  and  art ;  to  repair  with  them  to  the  newly  discovered 
territory  ;  and  to  dwell  there  among  the  natives.  To  make  up 
the  complement  of  his  men,  he  might  take  from  the  prisons 
whom  he  would,  excepting  only  those  arrested  for  treason  or 
counterfeiting  money.  The  enterprise  was  watched  with  jeal- 
ousy by  Spain. 

.  The  division  of  authority  between  Cartier  and  Roberval 
defeated  the  undertaking.  Roberval  was  ambitious  of  power ; 
and  Cartier  desired  the  exclusive  honor  of  discovery.  They 
neither  embarked  in  company  nor  acted  in  concert.  In  May, 
1541,  Cartier  sailed  from  St.  Malo.  Arrived  at  the  scene  of 
his  former  adventures,  near  the  site  of  Quebec,  he  built  a  fort ; 
but  no  considerable  advances  in  geographical  knowledge  ap- 
pear to  have  been  made.  The  winter  passed  in  sullenness  and 
gloom.  In  June,  1542,  he  and  his  ships  returned  to  France, 
just  before  Roberval  arrived  with  a  considerable  re-enforce- 
ment. Unsustained  by  Cartier,  Roberval  accomplished  no 
more  than  a  verification  of  previous  discoveries.  Remaining 
about  a  year  in  America,  he  abandoned  his  immense  viceroy- 
alty.  Perhaps  the  expedition  on  its  return  entered  the  bay  of 
Massachusetts. 

For  the  next  years  no  further  discoveries  were  attempted 
by  the  government  of  a  nation  which  was  rent  by  civil  wars 
and  the  conflict  w^ith  Calvinism.  Yet  the  number  and  impor- 
tance of  the  fishing  stages  increased ;  in  1578  there  were  one 


18  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paet  i.  ;  oh.  i. 

hundred  and  fifty  French  vessels  at  Newfoundland,  and  ex- 
changes with  the  natives  brought  good  returns. 

When,  under  the  mild  and  tolerant  reign  of  Henry  TV., 
the  star  of  France  emerged  from  the  clouds  which  had  long 
eclipsed  her  glory,  the  purpose  of  founding  a  French  empire 
in  America  was  renewed,  and  in  1598  an  ample  commission 
was  issued  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Koche,  a  Catholic  of  Brit- 
tany. Sweeping  the  prisons  of  France  of  their  inmates,  he 
established  them  on  the  desolate  isle  of  Sable.  After  some 
years  the  few  survivors  received  a  pardon  and  were  brought 
back  to  their  native  country. 

The  prospect  of  gain  prompted  the  next  adventure.  In 
1600,  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade,  with  an  ample  patent,  was 
obtained  by  Chauvin ;  and  Pontgrave,  a  merchant  of  St. 
Malo,  shared  the  traffic.  The  voyage  was  repeated,  for  it  was 
lucrative.  The  death  of  Chauvin  prevented  his  settling  a 
colony. 

A  firmer  hope  of  success  was  entertained  when,  in  1603,  a 
company  of  merchants  of  Rouen  was  formed  by  the  governor 
of  Dieppe ;  and  Samuel  Champlain  of  Brouage,  an  able 
marine  officer  and  a  man  of  science,  was  selected  to  direct  the 
expedition.  By  his  natural  disposition  "  delighting  marvel- 
lously in  these  enterprises,"  in  the  last  year  of  the  sixteenth 
century  he  had  for  a  season  engaged  in  the  service  of  Spain, 
that  he  might  make  a  voyage  to  regions  into  which  no  French- 
man could  otherwise  have  entered.  He  was  in  Porto  Rico 
and  St.  Domingo  and  Cuba,  visited  the  city  of  Mexico,  and 
foreshadowed  the  benefits  of  joining  the  two  oceans  by  a  canal 
to  Panama.  He  possessed  a  clear  and  penetrating  understand- 
ing with  a  spirit  of  cautious  inquiry;  untiring  perseverance 
with  great  mobility ;  indefatigable  activity  with  fearless  cour- 
age. The  account  of  his  first  expedition  to  Canada  gives 
proof  of  sound  judgment,  accurate  observation,  and  historical 
fidelity.  It  is  full  of  details  on  the  manners  of  the  savage 
tribes,  not  less  than  the  geography  of  the  country ;  and  Que- 
bec was  selected  as  the  appropriate  site  for  a  fort. 

In  November,  1603,  just  after  Champlain  had  returned  to 
France,  an  exclusive  patent  was  issued  to  a  Calvin ist,  the  able, 
patriotic,  and  honest  De  Monts.     The  sovereignty  of  Acadia 


1603-1607.  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS.  19 

and  its  confines,  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-sixth  degree  of 
latitude,  that  is,  from  Philadelphia  to  beyond  Montreal ;  a  still 
wider  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade ;  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
soil,  government,  and  trade  ;  freedom  of  religion  for  Huguenot 
emigrants — these  were  the  privileges  which  his  charter  con- 
ferred. 

In  March,  1604,  two  ships  left  the  shores  of  France,  not  to 
return  till  a  permanent  settlement  should  be  made  in  America. 
The  summer  glided  away,  while  the  emigrants  trafficked  with 
the  natives  and  explored  the  coasts.  The  harbor  called  Anna- 
polis after  its  conquest  by  Queen  Anne,  an  excellent  harbor 
though  difficult  of  access,  possessing  a  small  but  navigable 
river  which  abounded  in  fish  and  is  bordered  by  beautiful 
meadows,  so  pleased  Poutrin court,  a  leader  in  the  enterprise, 
that  he  sued  for  a  grant  of  it  from  De  Monts,  and,  naming  it 
Port  Koyal,  determined  to  reside  there  with  his  family.  The 
company  of  De  Monts  made  their  first  attempt  at  a  settlement 
on  the  island  of  St.  Croix,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the 
same  name.  The  island  proved  so  ill  suited  to  their  purposes 
that,  in  spring,  1605,  they  removed  to  Port  Royal. 

For  an  agricultural  colony  a  milder  climate  was  more  de- 
sirable ;  in  view  of  a  settlement  at  the  south,  De  Monts  in  the 
same  year  explored  and  claimed  for  France  the  rivers,  espe- 
cially the  Merrimac,  the  coasts  and  the  bays  of  'New  England, 
as  far,  at  least,  as  Cape  Cod.  The  numbers  and  hostility  of 
the  savages  led  him  to  delay  a  removal,  since  his  colonists  were 
so  few.  Yet  the  purpose  remained.  Thrice,  in  the  spring  of 
1606,  did  Dupont,  his  lieutenant,  attempt  to  complete  the  dis- 
covery. Twice  he  was  driven  back  by  adverse  winds ;  and,  in 
August,  at  the  third  attempt,  his  vessel  was  wrecked.  Pou- 
trincourt,  who  had  visited  France  and  returned  with  supplies, 
himself  renewed  the  design ;  but,  in  November,  meeting  with 
disasters  among  the  shoals  of  Cape  Cod,  he,  too,  returned  to 
Port  Royal.  ^^ 

The  possessions  of  PoiHHcourt  were,  in  1607,  confirmed 
by  Henry  TV. ;  in  the  next  year  the  apostolic  benediction  of 
the  Roman  pontiff  followed  families  which  exiled  themselves 
to  evangelize  infidels  ;  Mary  of  Medici  herself  contributed 
money  to  support  the  missions,  which  the  Marchioness  de 


20  COLONIAL   HISTORY.  pabt  i.  ;  ch.  i. 

Guercheville  protected;  and  in  1610,  by  a  compact  with  De 
Biencourt,  the  proprietary's  son,  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  was 
enriched  by  an  imposition  on  the  fisheries  and  fur  trade. 

The  arrival  of  Jesuit  priests  in  June,  1611,  was  signalized 
by  conversions  among  the  natives.  In  the  following  year  De 
Biencourt  and  Father  Biart  explored  the  coast  as  far  as  the 
Kennebec,  and  ascended  that  river.  The  Canibas,  Algonkins 
of  the  Abenaki  nations,  touched  by  the  confiding  humanity  of 
the  French,  listened  reverently  to  the  message  of  redemption ; 
and,  already  hostile  toward  the  English  who  had  visited  their 
coast,  the  tribes  between  the  Penobscot  and  the  Kennebec 
became  the  allies  of  France,  and  were  cherished  as  a  barrier 
against  English  encroachments. 

A  French  colony  was  soon  established,  under  the  auspices 
of  Madame  De  Guercheville  and  Mary  of  Medici;  in  1613 
the  rude  intrenchments  of  St.  Saviour  were  raised  by  De 
Saussaye  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Mount  Desert  isle.  The 
conversion  of  the  heathen  was  the  motive  to  the  settlement ; 
the  natives  venerated  Biart  as  a  messenger  from  Heaven ;  and, 
under  the  summer  sky,  round  a  cross  in  the  centre  of  the  ham- 
let, matins  and  vespers  were  regularly  chanted. 

Meantime  the  remonstrances  of  French  traders  had  ef- 
fected the  revocation  of  the  monopoly  of  De  Monts,  and  a 
company  of  merchants  of  Dieppe  and  St.  Malo  had  founded 
Quebec.  The  design  was  executed  by  Champlain,  who  aimed 
not  at  the  profits  of  trade,  but  at  the  glory  of  creating  a  state. 
On  the  third  day  of  July,  1608,  he  raised  the  white  flag  over 
Quebec,  where  rude  cottages  were  soon  framed,  a  few  fields 
cleared,  and  one  or  two  gardens  planted.  The  next  year  the 
bold  adventurer,  attended  by  two  Europeans,  joined  a  mixed 
party  of  Hurons  from  Montreal  and  Algonkins  from  Quebec, 
in  an  expedition  against  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  I^Tations,  in  the 
north  of  New  York.  He  ascended  the  Sorel,  and  explored  the 
lake  which  bears  his  name,  j^^kttle  with  the  Five  Nations 
was  fought  near  Ticonderoga.  ^^ 

The  death  of  Henry  lY.,  in  1610,  deprived  the  Huguenots 
of  their  protector.  Yet  De  Monts  survived,  and  he  quickened 
the  courage  of  Champlain.  After  the  short  supremacy  of 
Charles  de  Bourbon,  the  prince  of  Conde,  an  avowed  protector 


1615-1635.  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS.  21 

of  the  Calvinists,  became  viceroy  of  'New  France ;  through  his 
intercession  merchants  of  St.  Malo,  Eouen,  and  La  Rochelle, 
obtained  in  1615  a  colonial  patent  from  the  king ;  and  Cham- 
plain,  now  sure  of  success,  embarked  once  more  for  the  New 
World,  accompanied  by  monks  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis. 
Again  he  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Iroquois  in  New  York. 
Wounded  and  repulsed,  and  destitute  of  guides,  he  spent  the 
first  winter  after  his  return  to  America  in  the  country  of  the 
Hurons ;  and,  wandering  among  the  forests,  carried  his  lan- 
guage, religion,  and  influence  even  to  the  hamlets  of  Algon- 
kins,  near  Lake  Nipising. 

Religious  disputes  combined  with  commercial  jealousies  to 
check  the  progress  of  the  colony ;  yet  in  July,  1620,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  wishes  of  Montmorenci,  the  new  viceroy,  Cham- 
plain  began  a  fort.  The  merchants  grudged  the  expense.  "  It 
is  not  best  to  yield  to  the  passions  of  men,"  was  his  reply; 
"  they  sway  but  for  a  season ;  it  is  a  duty  to  respect  the  fut- 
ure ; "  and  in  1624:  the  castle  St.  Louis,  so  long  the  place  of 
council  against  the  Iroquois  and  against  New  England,  was 
durably  built  on  "  a  commanding  cliff." 

In  the  same  year  the  viceroyalty  was  transferred  to  the 
religious  enthusiast,  Henry  de  Levi ;  and  through  his  influ- 
ence, in  1625,  just  a  year  after  Jesuits  had  reached  the  sources 
of  the  Ganges  and  Thibet,  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  re- 
ceived priests  of  the  order,  which  was  destined  to  carry  the 
cross  to  Lake  Superior  and  the  west. 

The  presence  of  Jesuits  and  Calvinists  led  to  dissensions. 
The  savages  caused  disquiet.  But  the  persevering  founder  of 
Quebec  appealed  to  the  royal  council. and  to  Kichelieu,  who 
had  been  created  Grand  Master  of  Navigation  ;  and,  though 
disasters  intervened,  Champlain  successfully  established  the 
authority  of  the  French  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in 
the  territory  which  became  his  country.  Dying  on  Christmas 
day,  1635,  "  the  father  of  1^^  France  "  was  buried  in  the 
land  which  he  colonized.  ^^Phumble  industry  of  the  fisher- 
men of  Normandy  and  Bmtany  promised  their  country  the 
acquisition  of  an  empire. 


i^  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i,;  oh.  it. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE    SPANIARDS   IN   FLORIDA   AND   ON   THE   PACIFIC    COAST. 

I  HAVE  traced  the  course  of  events  which  established 
France  in  Acadia  and  Canada.  The  same  power  extended 
its  claims  indefinitely  towards  the  south ;  but  the  right  to 
Florida,  on  the  ground  of  discovery,  belonged  to  the  Spanish, 
and  was  successfully  asserted. 

^o  sooner  had  the  ]^ew  World  revealed  itself  to  Castile 
and  Aragon  than  the  Spanish  chivalry  of  the  ocean  despised 
the  range  of  Europe  as  too  narrow,  and  offering  to  their 
extravagant  ambition  nothing  beyond  mediocrity.  Blend- 
ing avarice  and  religious  zeal,  they  sailed  to  the  west,  as 
if  they  had  been  bound  on  a  new  crusade,  for  which  infinite 
wealth  was  to  reward  their  piety.  America  was  the  region  of 
romance,  where  the  heated  imagination  could  indulge  in  the 
boldest  delusions ;  where  the  simple  natives  ignorantly  wore 
the  most  precious  ornaments ;  and,  by  the  side  of  the  clear 
runnels  of  water,  the  sands  sparkled  with  gold.  To  carve  out 
provinces  with  the  sword ;  to  plunder  the  accumulated  treas- 
ures of  some  ancient  Indian  dynasty ;  to  return  from  a  roving 
expedition  with  a  crowd  of  enslaved  captives  and  a  profusion 
of  spoils — became  their  ordinary  dreams.  Ease,  fortune,  life 
— all  were  squandered  in  the  pursuit  where,  if  the  issue  was 
uncertain,  success  was  sometimes  obtained,  greater  than  the 
boldest  desires  had  dared  to  ^iticipate.  Is  it  strange  that 
these  adventurers  were  often  ^^^rstitious?  Or  that  they 
indulged  the  hope  that  the  lawsm  I^ature  themselves  would 
yield  to  men  so  fortunate  and  so  brave  ? 

The  youth  of  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  had  been  passed  in 
military  service  in  Spain ;  and,  during  the  wars  in  Granada, 


1493-1519.  THE   SPANIARDS  IN   FLORIDA.  23 

he  shared  in  the  wild  exploits  of  predatory  valor.  He  was  a 
fellow-voyager  of  Columbus  on  his  second  embarkation.  In 
the  wars  of  Hispaniola  he  proved  himself  a  gallant  soldier; 
and  Ovando  rewarded  him  with  the  superintendence  of  the 
eastern  province  of  that  island.  From  the  hills  in  his  juris- 
diction he  could  behold  Porto  Eico.  A  visit  to  the  island  stim- 
ulated his  cupidity ;  and  in  1509  he  obtained  the  appointment 
to  its  government.  His  new  authority  was  used  to  oppress 
the  natives  and  to  amass  wealth.  But  his  commission  con- 
flicted with  the  claims  of  the  family  of  Columbus  ;  and  it  was 
revoked. 

Yet  age  had  not  tempered  his  passions:  he  longed  to 
advance  his  fortunes  by  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom,  and  to 
retrieve  a  reputation  which  was  not  without  a  blemish.  Be- 
sides, the  veteran  soldier  had  heard,  and  like  many  in  Spain 
believed,  that  the  forests  of  the  new  world  concealed  a  foun- 
tain which  had  virtue  to  renovate  life. 

On  the  third  of  March,  1513,  according  to  our  present 
rule  for  beginning  the  year.  Ponce  embarked  at  Porto  Pico, 
with  a  squadron  of  three  ships,  fitted  out  at  his  own  expense, 
for  his  voyage  to  the  fabled  land.  He  touched  at  Guanahani ; 
he  sailed  among  the  Bahamas.  On  Easter  Sunday,  which  the 
Spaniards  call  Pascua  Florida,  and  which  in  that  year  fell  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  March,  land  was  seen.  It  was  supposed 
to  be  an  island,  and  received  the  name  of  Florida  from  the 
day  on  which  it  was  descried,  and  from  the  aspect  of  the 
forests  which  at  that  season  were  brilliant  with  bloom.  After 
delay  from  bad  weather,  the  aged  soldier  was  able  to  go  on 
shore,  in  the  latitude  of  thirty  degrees  and  eight  minutes ;  some 
miles,  therefore,  to  the  north  of  St.  Augustine.  The  territory 
was  claimed  for  Spain.  Ponce  remained  for  many  weeks  to 
investigate  the  coast.  He  doubled  Cape  Florida ;  he  sailed 
among  the  group  which  he  named  Tortugas ;  and,  despairing 
of  entire  success,  he  returned  to  Porto  Rico,  leaving  a  trusty 
follower  to  continue  the  s^rdt,  which  was  extended  toward 
the  bay  of  Appalachee.  'ihe  Indians  had  everywhere  dis- 
played determined  hostility.  Ponce  de  Leon  remained  an  old 
man ;  but  Spanish  commerce  acquired  a  new  channel  through 
the  Gulf  of  Florida,  and  Spain  a  province,  which  iraagina- 


24  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  past  i.  ;  ch.  n. 

tion  could  esteem  immeasurably  rich,  since  its  interior  was  un- 
known. 

The  government  of  Florida  was  the  reward  which  Ponce 
received  from  the  king  of  Spain  ;  but  the  dignity  was  accom- 
panied with  the  onerous  condition  that  he  should  colonize  the 
country.  Preparations  in  Spain,  and  an  expedition  against 
the  Caribbee  Indians,  delayed  his  return.  When,  in  1521, 
after  a  long  interval,  he  proceeded  with  two  ships  to  select 
a  site  for  a  colony,  his  company  was  attacked  by  the  Indians 
with  implacable  fury..  Many  Spaniards  were  killed;  the 
survivors  were  forced  to  hurry  to  their  ships ;  Ponce  de 
Leon  himself,  wounded  by  an  arrow,  returned  to  Cuba  to 
die.  So  ended  the  adventurer,  who  had  gone  in  quest  of 
immeasurable  wealth  and  perpetual  youth. 

The  expedition  of  Francisco  Fernandez,  of  Cordova,  leav- 
ing the  port  of  Havana,  and  sailing  west  by  south,  discovered 
in  1517  the  province  of  Yucatan  and  the  bay  of  Campeachy. 
He  then  turned  his  prow  to  the  north  ;  but,  at  a  place  where 
he  had  landed  for  supplies  of  water,  his  company  was  sud- 
denly assailed,  and  he  himself  mortally  wounded. 

In  1518  the  pilot  whom  Fernandez  had  employed  con- 
ducted another  squadron  to,  the  same  shores ;  and  Grijalva, 
the  commander  of  the  fleet,  explored  the  coast  from  Yucatan 
toward  Panuco.  The  masses  of  gold  which  he  brought  back, 
the  rumors  of  the  empire  of  Montezuma,  its  magnificence  and 
its  extent,  heedlessly  confirmed  by  the  costly  presents  of  the 
unsuspecting  natives,  excited  the  ardent  genius  of  Cortes. 
The  voyage  did  not  reach  beyond  the  bounds  of  Mexico. 

At  that  time  Francisco  de  Garay,  a  companion  of  Colum- 
bus on  his  second  voyage,  and  now  famed  for  his  opulence, 
was  the  governor  of  Jamaica.  In  the  year  1519,  after  having 
heard  of  the  richness  and  beauty  of  Yucatan,  he  at  his  own 
charge  sent  out  four  ships  well  equipped,  and  with  good  pilots, 
under  the  command  of  Alvarez  Alonso  de  Pineda.  His  pro- 
fessed object  was  the  search  K>r  some  strait,  west  of  Florida, 
which  was  not  yet  certainly  known  to  form  a  part  of  the  con- 
tinent. The  strait  having  been  sought  for  in  vain,  his  ships 
turned  toward  the  west,  attentively  examining  the  ports,  riv- 
ers, inhabitants,  and  everything  else  that  seemed  worthy  of 


1519-1525.  THE  SPANIARDS  IN  FLORIDA.  25 

remark ;  and  especially  noticing  the  vast  volume  of  water 
brought  down  by  one  very  large  stream.  At  last  they  came 
upon  the  track  of  Cortes  near  Yera  Cruz.  Between  that  har- 
bor and  Tampico  they  set  up  a  pillar  as  the  landmark  of  the 
discoveries  of  Garay.  More  than  eight  months  were  employed 
in  thus  exploring  three  hundred  leagues  of  the  coast,  and  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  country  for  the  crown  of  Castile.  The 
carefully  drawn  map  of  the  pilots  showed  distinctly  the  Mis- 
sissippi, which,  in  this  earliest  authentic  trace  of  its  outlet, 
bears  the  name  of  the  Espiritu  Santo.  The  account  of  the  ex- 
pedition having  been  laid  before  Charles  Y.,  a  royal  edict  in 
1521  granted  to  Garay  the  privilege  of  colonizing  at  his  own 
cost  the  region  which  he  had  made  known,  from  a  point  south 
of  Tampico  to  the  limit  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  near  the  coast  of 
Alabama.  But  Garay  thought  not  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
valley :  he  coveted  access  to  the  wealth  of  Mexico ;  and,  in 
1523,  lost  fortune  and  life  ingloriously  in  a  dispute  with  Cortes 
for  the  government  of  the  country  on  the  river  Panuco. 

A  voyage  for  slaves  brought  the  Spaniards  in  1520  still 
farther  to  the  north.     A  company  of  seven,  of  whom  the  most- 
distinguished  was  Lucas  Yasquez  de  Ayllon,  fitted  out  two 
slave  ships  from  St.  Domingo,  in  quest  of  laborers  for  their 
plantations  and  mines.     From  the  Bahama  islands  they  passed 
to  the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  which  was  called  Chicora.    The 
Combahee  river  received  the  name  of  the  Jordan ;  the  name 
of  St.  Helena,  whose  day  is  the  eighteenth  of  August,  was 
g;iven  to  a  cape,  but  now  belongs  to  the  sound.     Gifts  were\ 
interchanged  with  the  natives,  and  the  strangers  received  with^ 
confidence  and  hospitality.     When  at  length  the  natives  re- 
turned the  visit  of  their  guests,  and  covered  the  decks  with 
cheerful  throngs,  the  ships  were  got  under  way  and  steered  for  I 
San  Domingo.     The  crime  was  unprofitable  :  in  one  of  them, 
many  of  the  captives  sickened  and  died  ;  the  other  foundered 
at  sea. 

Repairing  to  Spain,  Yasquez  boasted  of  his  expeditions,  as 
a  title  to  reward  ;  and  the  emperor,  Charles  Y.,  acknowledged 
his  claim.  In  those  days  the  Spanish  monarch  conferred  a 
kind  of  appointment  which  had  its  parallel  in  Homan  history. 
Countries  were  distributed  to  be  subdued ;  and  Lucas  Yasquez 


56  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paet  i.  ;  oh.  n. 

de  Ajllon,  after  long  entreaty,  was  appointed  to  the  conquest 
of  Chicora. 

For  this  bolder  enterprise  the  undertaker  wasted  his  for- 
tune in  preparations ;  in  1525  his  largest  ship  was  stranded  in 
the  river  Jordan  ;  many  of  his  men  were  killed  by  the  natives ; 
and  he  himseK  escaped  only  to  suffer  from  the  consciousness 
of  having  done  nothing  worthy  of  honor.  Yet  it  may  be  that 
ships,  sailing  under  his  authority,  made  the  discovery  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  named  it  the  bay  of  St.  Mary ;  and  perhaps 
even  entered  the  bay  of  Delaware,  which,  in  Spanish  geogra- 
phy, was  called  St.  Christopher's. 

In  1524,  when  Cortes  was  able  to  pause  from  his  success 
in  Mexico,  he  proposed  to  solve  the  problem  of  a  north-west 
passage,  of  which  he  deemed  the  existence  unquestionable. 
But  his  project  of  simultaneous  voyages  along  the  Pacific  and 
the  Atlantic  coast  was  never  executed. 

In  the  same  year,  Stephen  Gomez,  an  able  Portuguese  sea- 
farer, who  had  deserted  Magellan  in  the  very  gate  of  the  Pa- 
cific to  return  to  Spain  by  way  of  Africa,  solicited  the  council 
of  the  Indies  to  send  him  in  search  of  a  strait  at  the  north, 
between  the  land  of  the  Bacallaos  and  Florida.  Peter  Martyr 
said  at  once  that  that  region  had  been  suflSciently  explored, 
and  derided  his  imaginings  as  frivolous  and  vain ;  but  a  ma- 
jority of  the  suffrages  directed  the  search.  In  January,  1525, 
a^  we  now  reckon,  Gomez  sailed  from  Corunna  with  a  single 
ship,  fitted  out  at  the  cost  of  Charles  Y.,  under  instructions  to 
seek  out  the  northern  passage  to  Cathay.  On  the  southern 
side  of  the  Bacallaos  he  came  upon  a  continent,  trending  to 
the  west.  He  carefully  examined  some  of  the  bays  of  'New 
England  ;  on  an  old  Spanish  map,  that  portion  of  our  territory 
is  marked  as  the  Land  of  Gomez.  He  discovered  the  Hud- 
son, probably  on  the  thirteenth  of  June,  for  that  is  the  day  of 
Saint  Antony,  whose  name  he  gave  to  the  river.  When  he 
became  convinced  that  the  land  was  continuous,  he  freighted 
his  caravel  in  part  with  furs,  in  part  with  Indians  for  the  slave- 
market  ;  and  brought  it  back  within  ten  months  from  his  em- 
barkation, having  found  neither  the  promised  strait  nor  Cathay. 
In  November  he  repaired  to  Toledo,  where  he  rendered  his 
report  to  the  youthful  emperor-king.     The  document  is  lost. 


1525-1528.  THE  SPANIARDS  IN"  FLORIDA.  27 

but  we  know  from  the  Summary  of  Oviedo,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  second  February  after  his  return,  that  his  exam- 
ination of  the  coast  reached  but  a  little  to  the  south  of  forty 
degrees  of  latitude.  If  this  limit  is  to  be  interpreted  strictly, 
he  could  not  have  entered  the  bay  of  the  Chesapeake,  or  the 
Delaware.  The  Spaniards  scorned  to  repeat  their  voyages  to 
the  frozen  north ;  in  the  south,  and  in  the  south  only,  they 
looked  for  "great  and  exceeding  riches." 

But  neither  the  fondness  of  the  Spanish  monarch  for  ex- 
tending his  domains,  nor  the  desire  of  the  nobility  for  new 
governments,  nor  the  passion  of  adventurers  to  go  in  search 
of  wealth,  would  suffer  the  abandonment  of  Florida ;  and,  in 
1526,  Famphilo  de  ISTarvaez.  a  man  of  no  great  virtue  or  repu- 
tation, obtained  from  Charles  Y.  the  contract  to  explore  and 
reduce  all  the  territory  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  river  Palmas. 
This  is  he  who  had  been  sent  by  the  jealous  governor  of  Cuba 
to  take  Cortes  prisoner,  and  had  himself  been  easily  defeated, 
losing  an  eye,  and  deserted  by  his  own  troops.  "  Esteem  it 
great  good  fortune  that  you  have  taken  me  captive,"  said  he 
to  the  man  whom  he  had  declared  an  outlaw ;  and  Cortes  re- 
plied :  "  It  is  the  least  of  the  things  I  have  done  in  Mexico." 

!N"arvaez,  who  was  both  rich  and  covetous,  hazarded  all  his 
treasure  on  the  conquest  of  his  province ;  and  sons  of  Spanish 
nobles  and  men  of  good  condition  flocked  to  his  standard.  In 
June,  1527,  his  expedition,  in  which  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de 
Yaca  held  the  second  place  as  treasurer,  left  the  Guadalquivir, 
touched  at  the  island  of  San  Domingo,  and  during  the  follow- 
ing winter,  amid  storms  and  losses,  passed  from  port  to  port 
on  the  southern  side  of  Cuba,  where  the  experienced  Miruelo 
was  engaged  as  his  pilot.  In  the  spring  of  1528  he  doubled 
Cape  San  Antonio,  and  was  standing  in  for  Havana,  when  a 
strong  south  wind  drove  his  fleet  upon  the  American  coast, 
and  on  the  fourteenth  of  April,  the  day  before  Good  Friday, 
he  anchored  in  or  near  the  outlet  of  the  bay  of  the  Cross,  now 
Tampa  bay. 

On  the  day  before  Easter  the  governor  landed,  and  in  the 
name  of  Spain  took  possession  of  Florida.  The  natives  kept 
aloof,  or,  if  they  drew  near,  marked  by  signs  their  impatience 
for  his  departure.     But  they  had  shown  him  samples  of  gold, 


28  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  ii. 

which,  if  their  gestures  were  rightly  interpreted,  came  from 
the  north.  Disregarding,  therefore,  the  most  earnest  advice 
of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Yaca,  he  directed  the  ships  to  meet 
him  at  a  harbor  with  which  the  pilot  pretended  acquaintance  ; 
and  on  the  first  of  May,  mustering  three  hundred  men,  of 
whom  forty  were  mounted,  he  struck  into  the  interior  of  the 
country.  Then  for  the  first  time  the  floating  peninsula,  whose 
low  sands,  impregnated  with  lime,  just  lift  themselves  above 
the  ocean  on  foundations  laid  by  the  coral  worms,  a  country 
notched  with  bays  and  drenched  by  morasses,  without  hills, 
;fet  gushing  with  transparent  fountains  and  watered  by  un- 
failing rivers,  was  traversed  by  white  men. 

The  wanderers,  as  they  passed  along,  gazed  on  trees  aston- 
ishingly high,  some  riven  from  the  top  by  lightning :  the  pine ; 
the  cypress  ;  the  sweet  gum ;  the  slender,  gracefully  tall  pal- 
metto ;  the  humbler  herbaceous  palm,  with  its  chaplet  of  cre- 
nated  leaves ;  the  majestic  magnolia,  glittering  in  the  light ; 
live  oaks  of  such  growth  that,  now  when  they  are  vanishing 
under  the  axe,  men  hardly  believe  the  tales  of  their"  greatness ; 
multitudes  of  birds  of  untold  varieties ;  and  quadrupeds  of 
many  kinds,  among  them  the  opossum,  wondered  at  for  its 
pocket  to  house  and  to  carry  its  young  ;  the  bear ;  more  than 
one  kind  of  deer ;  the  panther,  which  was  mistaken  for  the 
lion ;  but  they  found  no  rich  town,  nor  a  high  hill,  nor  gold. 
When,  on  rafts  and  by  swimming,  they  had  painfully  crossed 
the  strong  current  of  the  Withlochoochee,  they  were  so  worn 
away  by  famine  as  to  give  infinite  thanks  to  God  for  lighting 
upon  a  field  of  unripe  maize.  Just  after  the  middle  of  June 
they  encountered  the  Suwanee,  whose  wide,  deep,  and  rapid 
stream  delayed  them  till  they  could  build  a  large  canoe. 
Wading  through  swamps,  made  more  terrible  by  immense 
trunks  of  fallen  trees,  that  lay  rotting  in  the  water  and  shel- 
tered the  few  but  skilful  native  archers,  on  the  day  after  Saint 
John's  they  approached  Appalachee,  where  they  had  pictured 
to  themselves  a  populous  town,  and  food,  and  treasure,  and 
found  only  a  hamlet  of  forty  wretched  cabins. 

Here  they  remained  for  five-and-twenty  days,  scouring  the 
country  round  in  quest  of  silver  and  gold,  till,  perishing  with 
hunger  and  weakened  by  fierce  attacks,  they  abandoned  all 


1528-1534.  THE   SPANIARDS  IK  FLORIDA.  ^0 

hope  but  of  an  escape  from  a  region  so  remote  and  malign. 
Amid  increasing  dangers,  they  went  onward  through  deep 
lagoons  and  the  ruinous  forest  in  search  of  the  sea,  till  in  Au- 
gust they  came  upon  a  bay,  which  they  called  Baia  de  Caballos, 
and  which  now  forms  the  harbor  of  St.  Mark's.  No  trace 
could  be  found  of  their  ships ;  sustaining  life,  therefore,  by 
the  flesh  of  their  horses  and  by  six  or  seven  hundred  bushels 
of  maize  plundered  from  the  Indians,  they  beat  their  stirrups, 
spurs,  cross-bows,  and  other  implements  of  iron  into  saws,  axes, 
and  nails;  and  in  sixteen  days  finished  five  boats,  each  of 
twenty-two  cubits,  or  more  than  thirty  feet  in  length.  In 
calking  their  frail  craft,  films  of  the  palmetto  served  for  oak- 
um, and  they  payed  the  seams  with  pitch  from  the  nearest 
pines.  For  rigging,  they  twisted  ropes  out  of  horse-hair  and 
the  fibrous  bark  of  the  palmetto ;  their  shirts  were  pieced  to- 
gether for  sails,  and  oars  were  shaped  out  of  savins;  skins 
flayed  from  horses  served  for  water-bottles ;  it  w^as  difficult  in 
the  deep  sand  to  find  large  stones  for  anchors  and  ballast. 
Thus  equipped,  on  the  twenty-second  of  September  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  all  of  the  party  whom  famine,  au- 
tumnal fevers,  fatigue,  and  the  arrows  of  the  savage  bowmen 
had  spared,  embarked  for  the  river  Palmas.  Former  navi- 
gators had  traced  the  outline  of  the  coast,  but  among  the  voy- 
agers there  was  not  a  single  expert  mariner.  One  shallop 
was  commanded  by  Alonso  de  Castillo  and  Andres  Dorantes, 
another  by  Cabeza  de  Yaca.  The  gunwales  of  the  crowded 
vessels  rose  but  a  hand-breadth  above  the  water,  till,  after 
creeping  for  seven  days  through  shallow  sounds,  Cabeza  seized 
five  canoes  of  the  natives,  out  of  which  the  Spaniards  made 
guard-boards  for  their  five  boats.  During  thirty  days  more 
they  kept  on  their  way,  suffering  from  hunger  and  thirst,  im- 
perilled by  a  storm,  now  closely  following  the  shore,  now 
avoiding  savage  enemies  by  venturing  upon  the  sea.  On  the 
thirtieth  of  October,  at  the  hour  of  vespers,  Cabeza  de  Yaca, 
who  happened  to  lead  the  van,  discovered  one  of  the  mouths 
of  the  river  now  known  as  the  Mississippi,  and  the  little  fleet 
was  snugly  moored  among  islands  at  a  league  from  the  stream, 
which  brought  down  such  a  flood  that  even  at  that  distance 
the  water  was  sweet.     They  would  have  entered  the  "  very 


30  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.;  ch.  n. 

great  river"  in  search  of  fuel  to  parch  their  corn,  but  were 
baffled  by  the  force  of  the  current  and  a  rising  north  wind. 
A  mile  and  a  half  from  land  they  sounded,  and  with  a  line  of 
thirty  fathoms  could  find  no  bottom.  In  the  night  following 
a  second  day's  fruitless  struggle  to  go  up  the  stream,  the  boats 
were  separated ;  but  the  next  afternoon  Cabeza,  overtaking 
and  passing  Narvaez,  who  chose  to  hug  the  land,  struck  boldly 
put  to  sea  in  the  wake  of  Castillo,  whom  he  descried  ahead. 
They  had  no  longer  an  adverse  current,  and  in  that  region  the 
prevailing  wind  is  from  the  east.  For  four  days  the  half- 
famished  adventurers  kept  prosperously  toward  the  west, 
borne  along  by  their  rude  sails  and  their  labor  at  the  oar.  All 
the  fifth  of  I^ovember  an  easterly  storm  drove  them  forward ; 
and,  on  the  morning  of  the  sixth,  the  boat  of  Cabeza  was 
thrown  by  the  surf  on  the  sands  of  an  island,  which  he  called 
the  isle  of  Malhado — that  is,  of  Misfortune.  Except  as  to  its 
length,  his  description  applies  to  Galveston ;  his  men  believed 
themselves  not  far  from  the  Panuco.  The  Indians  of  the 
place  expressed  sympathy  for  their  shipwreck  by  howls,  and 
gave  them  food  and  shelter.  Castillo  was  cast  away  a  little 
farther  to  the  east ;  but  he  and  his  company  were  saved  alive. 
Of  the  other  boats,  an  uncertain  story  reached  Cabeza ;  that 
one  foundered  in  the  gulf ;  that  the  crews  of  the  two  others 
gained  the  shore ;  that  ITarvaez  was  afterward  driven  out  to 
sea ;  that  the  stranded  men  began  wandering  toward  the  west ; 
and  that  all  of  them  but  one  perished  from  hunger. 

Those  who  were  with  Cabeza  and  Castillo  gradually  wasted 
away  from  cold  and  want  and  despair ;  but  Cabeza  de  Yaca, 
Dorantes,  Castillo,  and  Estevanico,  a  blackamoor  from  Bar- 
bary,  bore  up  against  every  ill,  and,  though  scattered  among 
various  tribes,  took  thought  for  each  other's  welfare. 

The  brave  Cabeza  de  Yaca,  as  self-possessed  a  hero  as  ever 
graced  a  fiction,  fruitful  in  resources  and  never  wasting  time 
in  complaints  of  fate  or  fortune,  studied  the  habits  and  the 
languages  of  the  Indians ;  accustomed  himself  to  their  modes 
of  life ;  peddled  little  articles  of  commerce  from  tribe  to  tribe 
in  the  interior  and  along  the  coast  for  forty  or  fifty  leagues ; 
and  won  fame  in  the  wilderness  as  a  medicine  man  of  won- 
derful gifts.     In  September,  1534,  after  nearly  six  years'  cap- 


1534-1540.  THE  SPANIARDS  IN  FLORIDA.  31 

tivitj,  the  great  forerunner  among  the  pathfinders  across  the 
continent  inspired  the  three  others  with  his  own  marvellous 
fortitude,  and,  naked  and  ignorant  of  the  way,  without  so 
much  as  a  single  bit  of  iron,  they  planned  their  escape.  Ca- 
beza  has  left  an  artless  account  of  his  recollections  of  the 
journey ;  but  his  memory  sometimes  called  up  incidents  out 
of  their  place,  so  that  his  narrative  is  confused.  He  pointed 
his  course  far  inland,  partly  because  the  nations  away  from 
the  sea  were  more  numerous  and  more  mild ;  partly  that,  if 
he  should  again  come  among  Christians,  he  might  describe  the 
land  and  its  inhabitants.  Continuing  his  pilgrimage  through 
more  than  twenty  months,  sheltered  from  cold  first  by  deer- 
skins, then  by  buffalo  robes,  he  and  his  companions  passed 
through  Texas  as  far  north  as  the  Canadian  river,  then  along 
Indian  paths  crossed  the  water-shed  to  the  valley  of  the  Rio 
Grande  del  ^N^orte ;  and,  borne  up  by  cheerful  courage  against 
hunger,  want  of  water  on  the  plains,  cold  and  weariness,  perils 
from  beasts  and  perils  from  red  men,  the  voyagers  went  from 
town  to  town  in  'New  Mexico,  westward  and  still  to  the  west, 
till  in  May,  1536,  they  drew  near  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  the 
village  of  San  Miguel  in  Sonora.  From  that  place  they  were 
escorted  by  Spanish  soldiers  to  Compostella ;  and  all  the  way 
to  the  city  of  Mexico  they  were  entertained  as  public  guests. 

In  1530  an  Indian  slave  had  told  wonders  of  the  seven 
cities  of  Cibola,  the  Land  of  Buffaloes,  that  lay  at  the  north 
between  the  oceans  and  beyond  the  desert,  and  abounded  in 
silver  and  gold.  The  rumor  had  stimulated  N^uno  de  Guzman, 
when  president  of  IS'ew  Spain,  to  advance  colonization  as  far 
as  Compostella  and  Guadalaxara :  but  the  Indian  story-teller 
died ;  Guzman  was  superseded ;  and  the  seven  rich  cities  re- 
mained hid. 

To  the  government  of  New  Galicia,  Mendoza,  the  new 
viceroy  of  Mexico,  had  named  Francisco  Yasquez  Coronado. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  four  pioneers,  he  hastened  to  Culiacan, 
taking  with  him  Estevanico  and  Franciscan  friars,  one  of 
whom  was  Marcus  de  Niza ;  and  on  the  seventh  of  March, 
1539,  he  despatched  them  under  special  instructions  from 
Mendoza  to  find  Cibola.  The  negro,  having  rapidly  hurried 
on  before  the  party,  provoked  the  natives  by  insolent  demands. 


32  COLONIAL   HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  ii. 

and  was  killed.  On  the  twenty-second  of  the  following  Sep- 
tember, Niza  was  again  at  Mexico,  where  he  boasted  that  he 
had  been  as  far  as  Cibola,  though  he  had  not  dared  to  enter 
within  its  walls ;  that,  with  its  terraced  stone  houses  of  many 
stories,  it  was  larger  and  richer  than  Mexico  ;  that  his  Indian 
guides  gave  him  accounts  of  still  more  opulent  towns.  The 
priests  promulgated  in  their  sermons  his  dazzling  report ;  the 
Spaniards  in  New  Spain,  trusting  implicitly  in  its  truth, 
burned  to  subdue  the  vaunted  provinces ;  the  wise  and  pru- 
dent Coronado,  parting  from  his  lovely  young  wife  and  vast 
possessions,  took  command  of  the  explorers ;  more  young  men 
of  the  proudest  families  in  Spain  rallied  under  his  banner  than 
had  ever  acted  together  in  America ;  and  the  viceroy  himself, 
sending  Pedro  de  Alarcon  up  the  coast  with  two  ships  and  a 
tender  to  aid  the  land  party,  early  in  1540  went  in  person  to 
Compostella  to  review  the  expedition  before  its  departure ;  to 
distinguish  the  officers  by  his  cheering  attention  ;  and  to  make 
the  troops  swear,  on  a  missal  containing  the  gospels,  to  main- 
tain implicit  obedience  and  never  to  abandon  their  chief. 
The  army  of  three  hundred  Spaniards,  part  of  whom  were 
mounted,  beginning  its  march  with  flying  colors  and  bound- 
less expectations,  which  the  more  trusty  information  collected 
by  Melchior  Diaz  could  not  repress,  was  escorted  by  the  vice- 
roy for  two  days  on  its  way.  Never  had  so  chivalrous  adven- 
turers gone  forth  to  hunt  the  wilderness  for  kingdoms ;  every 
one  of  the  officers  seemed  fitted  to  lead  wherever  danger 
threatened  or  hope  allured.  From  Culiacan,  the  general,  ac- 
companied by  fifty  horsemen,  a  few  foot  soldiers,  and  his 
nearest  friends,  went  in  advance  to  Sonora,  and  so  to  the 
north. 

No  sooner  had  the  main  body,  with  lance  on  the  shoulder, 
carrying  provisions,  and  using  the  chargers  for  pack-horses, 
followed  Coronado  from  Sonora,  than  Melchior  Diaz,  selecting 
five-and-twenty  men  from  the  garrison  left  at  that  place,  set 
off  toward  the  west  to  meet  Alarcon,  who  in  the  mean  time 
had  discovered  the  Colorado  of  the  west,  or,  as  he  named  it, 
the  river  of  "  Our  Lady  of  Good  Guidance."  Its  rapid  stream 
could  with  difficulty  be  stemmed ;  but  hauled  by  ropes,  or  fa- 
vored by  southerly  winds,  he  ascended  the  river  twice  in  boats 


1540.  SPANIARDS   ON  THE  PACIFIC   COAST.  33 

before  the  end  of  September ;  the  second  time  for  a  distance 
of  four  degrees,  or  eighty-five  leagues,  nearly  a  hundred  miles, 
therefore,  above  the  present  boundary  of  the  United  States. 
His  course  was  impeded  by  sand-bars ;  once,  at  least,  it  lay 
between  rocky  cliffs.  His  movements  were  watched  by  hun- 
dreds of  natives,  who  were  an  exceedingly  tall  race,  almost 
naked,  the  men  bearing  banners  and  armed  with  bows  and  ar- 
rows, the  women  cinctured  with  a  woof  of  painted  feathers  or 
a  deerskin  apron ;  having  for  their  food  pumpkins,  beans,  flat 
cakes  of  maize  baked  in  ashes,  and  bread  made  of  the  pods  of 
the  mezquite-tree.  Ornaments  hung  from  their  ears  and 
pierced  noses ;  and  the  warriors,  smeared  with  bright  colors, 
wore  crests  cut  out  of  deerskin.  Alarcon,  who  called  himself 
the  messenger  of  the  sun,  distributed  among  them  crosses; 
took  formal  possession  of  the  country  for  Charles  Y . ;  collected 
stories  of  remoter  tribes  that  were  said  to  speak  more  than 
twenty  different  languages ;  but,  hearing  nothing  of  Coronado, 
he  sailed  back  to  New  Spain,  having  ascertained  that  lower 
California  is  not  an  island,  and  having  in  part  explored  the 
great  river  of  the  west.  Fifteen  leagues  above  its  mouth, 
Melchior  Diaz  found  a  letter  which  Alarcon  had  deposited  un- 
der a  tree,  announcing  his  discoveries  and  his  return.  Failing 
of  a  junction,  Diaz  went  up  the  stream  for  five  or  six  days, 
then  crossed  it  on  rafts,  and  examined  the  country  that 
stretched  toward  the  Pacific.  An  accidental  wound  cost  him 
his  life  ;  his  party  returned  to  Sonora. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  the  Colorado  was  discovered  at  a 
point  much  farther  to  the  north.  The  movements  of  the  gen- 
eral and  his  companions  were  rapid  and  daring.  Disappoint- 
ment first  awaited  them  at  Chichilti-Calli,  the  village  on  the 
border  of  the  desert,  which  was  found  to  consist  of  one  soli- 
tary house,  built  of  red  earth,  without  a  roof  and  in  ruins. 
Having  in  fifteen  days  toiled  through  the  barren  waste,  they 
came  upon  a  rivulet,  which,  from  the  reddish  color  of  its  tur- 
bid waters,  they  named  Yermilion ;  and  the  next  morning, 
about  the  eleventh  of  May,  they  reached  the  town  of  Cibola, 
which  the  natives  called  Zuni.  A  single  glance  at  the  little 
village,  built  upon  a  rocky  table,  that  rose  precipitously  over 
the  sandy  soil,  revealed  its  poverty  and  the  utter  falsehood  of 


34  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  ir. 

the  Franciscan's  report.  The  place,  to  which  there  was  no 
access  except  by  a  narrow  winding  road,  contained  two  hun- 
dred warriors ;  but  in  less  than  an  hour  it  yielded  to  the  im- 
petuosity of  the  Spaniards.  They  found  there  provisions 
which  were  much  wanted,  but  neither  gold,  nor  precious 
stones,  nor  rich  stuffs ;  and  Niza,  trembling  for  his  life,  stole 
back  to  'New  Spain  with  the  first  messenger  to  the  viceroy. 

As  the  other  cities  of  Cibola  were  scarcely  more  consider- 
able than  Zuiii,  Coronado  despatched  Pedro  de  Tobar  with  a 
party  of  horse  to  visit  the  province  of  Tusayan — that  is,  the 
seven  towns  of  Moqui ;  and  he  soon  returned  w^th  the  account 
that  they  were  feeble  villages  of  poor  Indians,  who  sought 
peace  by  presents  of  skins,  mantles  of  cotton,  and  maize.  On 
his  return,  Garci  Lopez  de  Cardenas,  with  twelve  others,  was 
sent  on  the  bolder  enterprise  of  exploring  the  course  of  the 
rivers.  It  was  the  season  of  summer  as  they  passed  the  Moqui 
villages,  struck  across  the  desert,  and,  winding  for  twenty  days 
through  volcanic  ruins  and  arid  wastes,  dotted  only  with  dwarf 
pines,  reached  an  upland  plain,  through  which  the  waters  of 
the  Colorado  have  cleft  an  abyss  for  their  course.  As  they 
gazed  down  its  interminable  side,  they  computed  it  to  out- 
measure  the  loftiest  mountain  ;  the  broad,  surging  torrent  be- 
low appeared  not  more  than  a  fathom  wide.  Two  men  at- 
tempted to  descend  into  the  terrible  chasm,  but,  after  toiling 
through  a  third  of  the  way  to  the  bottom,  they  climbed  back, 
saying  that  a  block,  which  from  the  summit  seemed  no  taller 
than  a  man,  was  higher  than  the  tower  of  the  cathedral  at 
Seville.  The  party,  in  returning  to  Zuni,  saw  where  the  little 
Colorado  at  two  leaps  clears  a  vertical  wall  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  feet. 

Thus  far,  the  streams  found  by  the  Spaniards  flowed  to  the 
Gulf  of  California.  In  the  summer  of  1540,  before  the  return 
of  Cardenas,  Indians  appeared  at  Zuni  from  a  province  called 
Cicuye,  seventy  leagues  toward  the  east,  in  the  country  of 
cattle  whose  hair  was  soft  and  curling  like  wool.  A  party 
under  Hernando  Alvarado  went  with  the  returning  Indians. 
In  five  days  they  reached  Acoma,  which  was  built  on  a  high 
cliff,  to  be  reached  only  by  steps  cut  in  the  rock,  having  on  its 
top  land  enough  to  grow  maize,  and  cisterns  to  catch  the  rain 


1540-1541.    SPANIARDS   ON  THE  PACIFIC   COAST.  35 

and  suow.  Here  the  Spaniards  received  gifts  of  game,  deer- 
skins, bread,  and  maize. 

Three  other  days  brought  Alvarado  to  Tiguex,  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Eio  del  Xort(i,  just  below  Albuquerque,  perhaps 
not  far  from  Isletta ;  and  in  five  days  more  he  reached  Cicuye, 
on  the  river  Pecos.  But  he  found  there  nothing  of  note,  ex- 
cept an  Indian  who  told  of  Quivira,  a  country  to  the  north- 
east, the  real  land  of  the  buffalo,  abounding  in  gold  and  silver, 
and  watered  by  tributaries  of  a  river  which  was  two  leagues 
wide. 

The  Spanish  camp  for  the  winter  was  established  near 
Tiguex ;  there  Alvarado  brought  the  Indian  w^ho  professed  to 
know  the  way  to  Quivira  ;  there  Coronado  himself  appeared, 
after  a  tour  among  eight  more  southern  villages  ;  and  there 
his  army,  which  had  reached  Zuni  without  loss,  arrived  in 
December,  suffering  on  its  march  from  cold  and  storms  of 
snow. 

The  people  who  had  thus  far  been  discovered  had  a  civil- 
ization intermediate  between  that  of  the  Mexicans  and  the 
tribes  of  hunters.  They  dwelt  in  fixed  places  of  abode,  built, 
for  security  against  roving  hordes  of  savages,  on  tables  of  land 
that  spread  out  upon  steep  natural  castles  of  sandstone.  Each 
house  was  large  enough  to  contain  three  or  four  hundred  per- 
sons, and  consisted  of  one  compact  parallelogram,  raised  of 
mud,  hardened  in  the  sun,  or  of  stones,  cemented  by  a  mixture 
of  ashes,  earth,  and  charcoal  for  lime ;  usually  three  or  four 
stories  high,  with  terraces,  inner  balconies,  and  a  court,  having 
no  entrance  on  the  ground  floor ;  accessible  from  without  only 
by  ladders,  which  in  case  of  alarm  might  be  drawn  inside. 
There  was  no  king  or  chief  exercising  supreme  authority,  no 
caste  of  nobles  or  priests,  no  human  sacrifices,  no  cruel  rites 
of  superstition,  no  serfs  or  class  of  laborers  or  slaves ;  they 
were  not  governed  much  ;  and  that  little  government  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  council  of  old  men.  A  subterranean  heated 
room  was  the  council-chamber.  They  had  no  hieroglyphics 
like  the  Mexicans,  nor  calendar,  nor  astronomical  knowledge. 
Bows  and  arrows,  clubs  and  stones,  were  their  weapons  of  de- 
fence ;  they  were  not  sanguinary,  and  they  never  feasted  on 
their  captives.     Their  women  were  chaste  and  modest ;  adul- 


36  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  ch.  it. 

tery  was  rare  ;  polygamy  unknown.  Maize,  beans,  pumpkins, 
and,  it  would  seem,  a  species  of  native  cotton,  were  cultivated  ; 
the  mezquite-tree  furnished  bread.  The  dress  was  of  skins  or 
cotton  mantles.  They  possessed  nothing  which  could  gratify 
avarice  ;  the  promised  turquoises  were  valueless  blue  stones. 

Unwilling  to  give  up  the  hope  of  discovering  an  opulent 
country,  on  the  twenty-third  of  April,  1541,  Coronado,  with 
the  false  Indian  as  the  pilot  of  his  detachment,  began  a  march 
to  the  north-east.  Crossing  the  track  of  Cabeza  de  Yaca,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Canadian  river,  they  came  in  nine  days  upon 
plains  which  seemed  to  have  no  end,  and  where  countless 
prairie  dogs  peered  on  them  from  their  burrows.  Many  pools 
of  water  were  found  impregnated  with  salt,  and  bitter  to  the 
taste.  The  wanderings  of  the  general,  extending  over  three 
hundred  leagues,  brought  him  among  the  Querechos,  hunters 
of  the  bison,  which  gave  them  food  and  clothing,  strings  to 
their  bows,  and  coverings  to  their  lodges.  They  had  dogs 
to  carry  their  tents  when  they  moved ;  they  knew  of  no 
wealth  but  the  products  of  the  chase,  and  they  migrated  with 
the  wild  herds.  The  Spaniards  came  once  upon  a  prairie  that 
was  broken  neither  by  rocks  nor  hills,  nor  trees  nor  shrubs, 
nor  anything  which  could  arrest  the  eye  as  it  followed  the 
sea  of  grass  to  the  horizon.  In  the  hollow  ravines  there  were 
trees,  which  could  be  seen  only  by  approaching  the  steep 
bank ;  the  path  for  descending  to  the  water  was  marked  by 
the  tracks  of  the  bison.  Here  some  of  the  Teyas  nation  from 
the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  [N'orte  were  found  hunting. 
The  governor,  sending  back  the  most  of  his  men,  with  a 
chosen  band  journeyed  on  for  forty -two  days  longer,  having 
no  food  but  the  meat  of  buffaloes,  and  no  fuel  but  their  dung. 
At  last  he  reached  the  province,  which,  apparently  from  some 
confusion  of  names,  he  was  led  to  call  Quivira,  and  which  lay 
in  forty  degrees  north  latitude,  unless  he  may  have  erred  one 
or  two  degrees  in  his  observations.  It  was  well  watered  by 
brooks  and  rivers,  which  flowed  to  what  the  Spaniards  then 
called  the  Espiritu  Santo  ;  the  soil  was  the  best  strong,  black 
mould,  and  bore  plums  like  those  of  Spain,  nuts,  grapes,  and 
excellent  mulberries.  The  inhabitants  were  savages,  having 
no  culture  but  of  maize  ;  no  metal  but  copper ;  no  lodges  but 


1541-1542.     SPANIARDS   ON   THE  PAOIFIO   COAST.  37 

of  straw  or  of  bison  skins ;  no  clothing  but  buffalo  robes. 
Here,  on  the  bank  of  a  great  tributary  of  the  Mississippi,  a 
cross  was  raised  with  this  inscription  :  "  Thus  far  came  the 
general,  Francisco  Yasquez  de  Coronado." 

After  a  still  further  search  for  rich  kingdoms,  and  after 
the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte  had  been  explored  bj  parties  from 
the  army  for  twenty  leagues  above  its  tributary,  the  Jemez, 
and  for  an  uncertain  distance  below  El  Paso,  the  general,  re- 
turning to  Tiguex,  on  the  twentieth  of  October,  1541,  reported 
to  Charles  Y.  that,  poor  as  were  the  villages  on  the  great 
river  of  the  Korth,  nothing  better  had  been  found,  and  that 
the  region  was  not  fit  to  be  colonized.  Persuaded  that  no 
discoveries  could  be  made  of  lands  rich  in  gold,  or  thickly 
enough  settled  to  be  worth  dividing  as  estates,  Coronado,  in 
1542,  with  the  hearty  concurrence  of  his  officers,  returned  to 
New  Spain.  His  failure  to  find  a  Northern  Peru  threw  him 
out  of  favor ;  yet  what  could  have  more  deserved  applause 
than  the  courage  and  skill  of  the  men  who  thoroughly  exam- 
ined and  accurately  portrayed  the  country  north  of  Sonora, 
from  what  is  now  Kansas  on  the  one  side  to  the  chasm  of  the 
Colorado  on  the  other  ?) 

In  the  year  of  the  return  of  Coronado,  a  Spanish  expedi- 
tion sailed  from  Acapulco  under  the  command  of  Juan  Eo- 
driguez  Cabrillo,  a  Portuguese.  In  January,  1543,  Cabrillo 
died  in  the  harbor  of  San  Diego  ;  but  his  pilot,  Bartolome 
Ferrelo,  continued  the  exploration,  and  traced  the  coast  of  the 
American  continent  on  the  Pacific  to  within  two  and  a  half 
degrees  of  the  mouth  of  Columbia  river. 


38  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  pabt  i.;  oh.  ra. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE    SPANIARDS    IN   THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 

The  expedition  from  Mexico  had  not  been  begun,  when, 
in  1537,  Cabeza  de  Yaca,  landing  in  Spain,  addressed  to  the 
imperial  Catholic  king  a  narrative  of  his  adventures  ;  and  the 
tales  of  "  the  Columbus  of  the  continent "  quickened  the 
belief  that  the  country  between  the  river  Palmas  and  the 
Atlantic  was  the  richest  in  the  world. 

The  assertion  was  received  even  by  those  who  had  seen 
Mexico  and  Peru.  To  no  one  was  this  faith  more  disastrous 
than  to  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  of  Xeres.  He  had  been  the  favor- 
ite companion  of  Pizarro,  and  at  the  storming  of  Cusco  had 
surpassed  his  companions  in  arms.  He  assisted  in  arrest- 
ing the  unhappy  Atahualpa,  and  shared  in  the  immense  ran- 
som with  which  the  credulous  Inca  purchased  the  promise  of 
freedom.  Perceiving  the  angry  jealousies  of  the  conquerors 
of  Peru,  Soto  had  seasonably  withdrawn,  to  display  his  opu- 
lence in  Spain,  and  to  solicit  advancement.  His  reception  was 
triumphant ;  success  of  all  kinds  awaited  him.  The  daughter 
of  the  distinguished  nobleman  under  whom  he  had  first  served 
as  a  poor  adventurer  became  his  wife  ;  and  the  special  favor 
of  Charles  Y.  invited  him  to  prefer  a  large  request.  It  had 
been  believed  that  the  recesses  of  the  continent  at  the  north 
concealed  cities  as  magnificent  and  temples  as  richly  endowed 
as  any  which  had  yet  been  plundered  within  the  tropics.  Soto 
desired  to  rival  Cortes  in  glory,  and  surpass  Pizarro  in  wealth.  - 
Blinded  by  avarice  and  the  love  of  power,  he  repaired  to  Ya- 
Uadolid,  and  demanded  permission  to  conquer  Florida  at  his 
own  cost ;  and  Charles  Y.  readily  conceded  to  so  renowned  a 
commander  the  government  of  Cuba,  with  absolute  power  over 


1538-1539.      SPANIARDS   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY.         39 

the  immense  territory  to  which  the  name  of  Florida  was  still 
vaguely  applied. 

No  sooner  was  the  design  of  the  new  armament  published 
in  Spain  than  the  wildest  hopes  were  indulged.  How  brill- 
iant must  be  the  prospect,  since  the  conqueror  of  Peru  was 
willing  to  hazard  his  fortune  and  the  greatness  of  his  name ! 
Adventurers  assembled  as  volunteers,  many  of  them  people 
of  noble  birth  and  good  estates.  Houses  and  vineyards, 
lands  for  tillage,  and  rows  of  olive-trees  in  the  Ajarrafe  of 
Seville,  were  sold,  as  in  the  times  of  the  crusades,  to  obtain 
the  means  of  military  equipments.  The  port  of  San  Lucar  of 
Barrameda  was  crowded  with  those  who  hastened  to  solicit 
permission  to  share  in  the  undertaking.  Even  soldiers  of 
Portugal  desired  to  be  enrolled  for  the  service.  A  muster 
was  held  :  the  Portuguese  glittered  in  burnished  armor ;  and 
the  Castilians  were  "  very  gallant  with  silk  upon  silk."  From 
the  numerous  aspirants,  Soto  selected  for  his  companions  six 
hundred  men  in  the  bloom  of  life,  the  flower  of  the  penin- 
sula. 

The  fleet  sailed  as  gayly  as  if  on  a  holiday  excursion. 
From  Cuba  the  precaution  had  been  taken  to  send  vessels 
to  Florida  to  explore  a  harbor  ;  and  two  Indians,  brought  cap- 
tives to  Havana,  invented  such  falsehoods  as  they  perceived 
would  be  acceptable.  They  conversed  by  signs  ;  and  the 
signs  were  interpreted  as  affirming  that  Florida  abounded  in 
gold.  The  news  spread  great  contentment;  Soto  and  his 
troops  restlessly  longed  for  the  hour  of  their  departure  to  the 
conquest  of  "  the  richest  country  which  had  yet  been  discov- 
ered." The  infection  spread  in  Cuba ;  and  Yasco  Porcallo, 
an  aged  and  a  wealthy  man,  lavished  his  fortune  in  magnifi- 
cent preparations. 

Soto  had  been  welcomed  in  Cuba  by  long  and  brilliant 
festivals  and  rejoicings.  In  May,  1539,  all  preparations  were 
completed ;  leaving  his  wife  to  govern  the  island,  he  and  his 
company,  fall  of  unbounded  expectations,  embarked  for  Flori- 
da ;  and  in  about  a  fortnight  his  fleet  anchored  in  the  bay  of 
Spiritu  Santo.  The  soldiers  went  on  shore ;  the  horses,  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred  in  number,  were  disembarked. 
Soto  would  hsten  to  no  augury  but  of  success  ;  and,  like  Cor 


40  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  part  i.;  oh.  ni. 

tes,  he  refused  to  retain  his  ships,  lest  they  should  tempt  to  a 
retreat.  Most  of  them  were  sent  to  Havana.  Porcallo  grew 
alarmed.  It  had  been  a  principal  object  with  him  to  obtain 
slaves  for  his  estates  and  mines  in  Cuba ;  despairing  of  suc- 
cess, he  sailed  for  the  island  after  the  first  skirmish.  Soto 
was  indignant  at  the  desertion,  but  concealed  his  anger. 

And  now  began  the  nomadic  march  of  horsemen  and  in- 
fantry, completely  armed  ;  a  force  exceeding  in  numbers  and 
equipments  the  famous  partisans  who  triumphed  over  the  em- 
pires of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Everything  was  provided  that 
experience  in  former  invasions  could  suggest :  chains  for  cap- 
tives, and  the  instruments  of  a  forge ;  weapons  of  all  kinds 
then  in  use,  and  blood-hounds  as  auxiliaries  against  the  natives ; 
ample  stores  of  food,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  a  drove  of  hogs, 
which  would  soon  swarm  in  the  favoring  climate  where  the 
forests  and  maize  furnished  them  abundant  sustenance.  It  was 
a  roving  company  of  gallant  freebooters  in  quest  of  a  fortune ; 
a  romantic  stroll  of  men  whom  avarice  rendered  ferocious, 
through  unexplored  regions,  over  unknown  paths,  wherever 
rumor  might  point  to  the  residence  of  some  chieftain  with 
more  than  Peruvian  wealth,  or  the  ill-interpreted  signs  of 
the  ignorant  natives  might  seem  to  promise  gold.  Often,  at 
the  resting-places,  groups  of  listless  adventurers  clustered 
together  to  enjoy  the  excitement  of  desperate  gaming.  Re- 
ligious zeal  was  also  united  with  avarice :  twelve  priests, 
besides  other  ecclesiastics,  accompanied  the  expedition.  Orna- 
ments for  the  service  of  mass  were  provided ;  every  festival 
was  to  be  kept,  every  religious  practice  to  be  observed.  As 
the  troop  marched  through  the  wilderness,  the  solemn  proces- 
sions, which  the  church  enjoined,  were  scrupulously  instituted. 
Florida  was  to  become  Catholic  during  scenes  of  robbery  and 
carnage. 

The  movements  of  the  first  season,  from  June  to  the  end 
of  October,  brought  the  company  from  the  bay  of  Spiritu 
Santo  to  the  home  of  the  Appalachians,  east  of  the  Flint 
riyer,  and  not  far  from  the  head  of  the  bay  of  ^Sppalachee. 
The  names  of  the  intermediate  places  caimot  be  identified. 
The  march  was  tedious  and  full  of  dangers.  The  Indians  were 
alway8_iiostile ;   the  two  captives  of  the  former  expedition 


1539-1540.      SPANIARDS  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY.         41 

escaped  ;  a  Spaniard,  who  had  been  kept  in  slavergjrom  the 
time^of  Narvaez,  could  give  n^^accounts  of  any  land  where 
there  was  silver  or  gold.  The  guides  would  purposely  lead 
the  Castilians  astray,  and  involve  them  in  morasses ;  even 
though  death  under  the  fangs  of  jthejblqod-hounds  was  the 
certain  punishment.  The  company  grew  dispirited,  and  de- 
sired the  governor  to  return,  since  the  region  opened  no 
brilliant  prospects.  "  I  will  not  turn  back,"  said  Soto,  "  till  j 
I  have  seen  the  poverty  of  the  country  with  my  own  eyes." 
The  hostile  Indians  who  were  taken  prisoners  were  in  part 
put  to  death,  in  part  enslaved.  These  were  led  in  chains,  wdth 
iron  collars  about  their  necks ;  their  service  was  to  grind  the 
maize  and  to  carry  the  baggage.  An  exploring  party  discov- 
ered Ochus,  the  harbor  of  Pensacola;  and  a  message  was 
transmitted  to  Cuba,  desiring  that  in  the  ensuing  year  supplies 
might  be  sent  to  that  place. 

In  March,  1540,  the  w^anderers  renewed  their  march,  with 
an  IndiajLgliide,  who  promised  to  lead  the  way  to  a  country 
governed,  it  was  said,  byuLSmjnan,  and  where  gold  so  abound- 
ed that  the  art_of  melting  and  refining  it  was  understood. 
He  described  the  process  so  well  that  the  credulous  Spaniards 
took  heart.  The  Indian  appears  to  have  pointed  toward  the 
gold  region  of  !N"orth  Carolina.  The  adventurers,  therefore, 
eagerly  hastened  to  the  north-east ;  they  passed  the  Ala- 
tamaha ;  they  admired  the  fertile  valleys  of  Georgia^  rich, 
productive,  and  full  of  good  rivers.  They  crossed  a  northern 
tributary  of  the  Alatamaha  and  a  southern  branch  of  the 
Ogeechee ;  and,  at  length,  came  upon  the  Ogeechee  itself, 
which,  in  April,  flowed  with  a  full  channel  and  a  strong  cur- 
rent. Much  of  the  time  the  Spaniards  were  in  wild  solitudes ; 
they  suffered  for  want  of  salt  and  of  meat.  Their  Indian 
guide  affected  madness;  but  "they  said  a  gospel  over  him, 
and  the  fit  left  him."  Again  he  involved  them  in  pathless 
wilds ;  and  then  he  would  have  been  torn  to  pieces  by  the 
dogs  if  he  had  not  still  been  needed  to  assist  the  interpreter. 
Of  fourjndian  captives,  who  were  questioned,  one  bluntly 
answered,  he  knew  no_country  such  as  they  described ;  the 
governor  ordered  him  to  be  burnt,  for  what  was  esteemed  his 
falsehood.     The  sight  of  the  execution  quickened  the  inven- 


VOL.  I. — 6 


42  COLONIAL   HISTORY.  paet  i.  ;  oh.  in. 

tion  of  his  companions ;  and  the  Spaniards  made  their  way  to 
the  small  Indian  settlement  of  Cutifa-Chiqui.  A  dagger  and 
a  rosary  were  found  here ;  the  story  of  the  Indians  traced 
Ithem  to  the  expedition  of  Yasquez  de  Ayllon ;  and  a  two 
days'  journey  would  reach,  it  was  believed,  the  harbor  of  St. 
Helena.  The  soldiers  thought  of  home,  and  desired  either 
to  make  a  settlement  on"  the  fruitful  soil  around  them,  or  to 
return.  The  governor  was  "  a  stern  man,  and  of  few  words." 
Willingly  hearing  the  opinions  of  others,  he  was  inflexible 
when  he  had  once  declared  his  own  mind  ;  and  all  his  fol- 
lowers *'  condescended  to  his  will." 

In  May  the  direction  of  the  march  was  to  the  north  ;  to 
the  comparatively  sterile  country  of  the  Cherokees,  and  in 
part  through  a  district  in  which  gold  is  now  found.  The  in- 
habitants were  poor,  but  gentle ;  they  offered  such  presents 
as  their  habits  of  life  permitted — deerskins  and  wild  hens. 
Soto  could  hardly  have  crossed  the  mountains  so  as  to  enter 
the  basin  of  the  Tennessee  river;  it  seems,  rather,  that  he 
passed  from  the  head-waters  of  the  Savannah  or  the  Chatta- 
hoochee to  the  head-waters  of  the  Coosa.  The  name  of  Cana- 
sauga,  a  village  at  which  he  halted,  is  still  given  to  a  branch  of 
the  latter  stream.  For  several  months  the  Spaniards  were  in 
the  valleys  which  send  their  waters  to  the  bay  of  Mobile. 
Chiaha  was  an  island  distant  about  a  hundred  miles  from 
Canasauga.  An  exploring  party  which  was  sent  to  the  north 
were  appalled  by  the  aspect  of  the  Appalachian  chain,  and 
pronounced  the  mountains  i"mpassable.  They  had  looked  for 
mines  of  copper  and  gold ;  and  their  only  plunder  was  a  buf- 
falo robe. 

In  the  latter  part  of  July, the  Spaniards  were  at  Co£sa. 
In  the  course  of  the  season  they  had  occasion  to  praise  the 
wild  grape  of  the  country,  the  same,  perhaps,  which  has  since 
been  thought  worthy  of  culture,  and  to  admire  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  maize,  which  was  springing  from  the  fertile  plains 
of  Alabama.  A  southerly  direction  led  the  train  to  Tusca- 
loosa ;  on  the  eighteenth  of  October  the  wanderers  reached  a 
considerable  town  on  the  Alabama,  above  the  junction  of  the 
Tombigbee,  and  about  one  hundred  miles,  or  six  days'  journey, 
from  Pensacola.     The  village  was  called  Mavilla,  or  Mobile,  a 


1540-1541.      SPANTARDS  IN   THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY.        43 

name  which  is  now  applied  not  to  the  bay  only,  but  to  the 
river,  after  the  union  of  its  numerous  tributaries.  The  Span- 
iardvS,  tired  of  lodging  in  the  fields,  desired  to  occupy  the 
cabins  ;  the  Indians,  with  desperate  courage,  rose  against  their 
invaders.  A  battle  ensued ;  the  terrors  of  cavalry  gave  the 
victory  to  the  Spaniards.  The  town  was  set  on  fire  ;  and  a 
witness  of  the  scene,  in  a  greatly  exaggerated  account,  relates 
that  two  thousand  five  hundred  Indians  were  slain,  sujffocated, 
or  burnt.  "  Of  the  Christians,  eighteen  died  ;  "  one  hundred  ^ 
and  fiftywere  wounded  with  arrows ;  twelve  horses  were  slain,  ) 
and  seventy  hurt.  The  baggage  of  the  Spaniards  was  within 
the  town,  and  was  entirely  consumed. 

Meanwhile,  ships  from  Cuba  had  arrived  at  Ochus,  now 
Pensacola.  Soto  had  made  no  important  discoveries ;  he  had 
gathered  no  tempting  stores  of  silver  and  gold ;  the  fires  of 
Mobile  had  consumed  his  curious  collections ;  with  resolute 
pride  he  determined  to  send  no  news  of  himself,  until,  like- 
Cortes,  he  had  found  some  rich  country. 

The  region  above  the  mouth  of  the  Mobile  was  populous 
and  hostile,  and  yet  too  poor  to  promise  plunder.  In  the 
middle  of  November,  Soto  retreated  toward  the  north,  his 
troops  already  reduced,  by  sickness  and  warfare,  to  fiyejiun- 
dred  men.  A  month  passed  away  before  he  reached  winter- 
quarters  at  Chicaga,  a  small  town  in  the  country  of  the  Chicka- 
saws,  in  the  ujpper  part  of  the  state  of  Mississippi,  probably  on 
the  western  bank  of  the  Yazoo.  Snow  fell,  but  maize  was. 
yet  standing  in  the  open  fields.  The  Spaniards  were  able  to 
gather  a  supply  of  food,  and  the  deserted  town,  with  such  rude 
cabins  as  they  added,  afforded  them  shelter  through  the  winter. 
Yet  no  mines  were  discovered  ;  no  ornaments  of  gold  adorned 
the  savages  ;  their  wealth  was  the  harvest  of  com,  and  wig- 
wams were  their  only  palaces ;  they  were  poor  and  indepen- 
dent ;  they  were  hardy  and  loved  freedom. 

When  the  spring  of  1541  began  to  open,  Soto,  as  he  had 
usually  done  with  other  tribes,  demanded  of  the  chieftain  of 
the  Chickasaws  two  hundred  men  to  carry  the  burdens  of  his 
company.  The  Indians  hesitated ;  and,  in  the  dead  of  night, 
deceiving  the  sentinels,  set  fire  to  their  own  village,  in  which 
the  Castilians  were  encamped.     On  a  sudden,  half  the  houses 


44  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paet  i.;  ch.  in. 

were  in  flames  ;  and  the  loudest  notes  of  the  war-whoop  rung 
through  the  air.  The  Indians,  could  they  have  acted  with 
calm  bravery,  might  have  gained  a  victory  ;  but  they  trembled 
at  their  own  success,  and  feared  the  unequal  battle  against 
weapons  of  steel.  Many  of  the  horses  had  broken  loose ; 
others  perished  in  the  stables ;  most  of  the  swine  were  con- 
sumed ;  eleyen^oUihe  Christians  were  burnt,  or  lost  their 
lives  in  the  tumult.  The  clothes  which  had  been  saved  from 
the  fires  of  Mobile  were  destroyed,  and  the  Spaniards,  now  as 
naked  as  the  natives,  suffered  from  the  cold.  Weapons  and 
equipments  were  consumed  or  spoiled.  But,  in  a  respite 
of  a  week,  forges  were  erected,  swords  newly  tempered,  and 
good  ashen  lances  were  made,  equal  to  the  best  of  Biscay. 
When,  on  the  fifteenth  of  March,  the  Indians  attacked  the 
camp,  they  found  "  the  Christians"  prepared. 

The  disasters  which  had  been  encountered  served  only  to 
confirm  the  obstinacy  of  the  governor.  Should  he,  who  had 
promised  greater  booty  than  Mexico  or  Peru  had  yielded,  now 
return  as  a  defeated  fugitive,  so  naked  that  his  troops  were 
clad  only  in  skins  and  mats  of  ivy  ?  In  April  the  search  for 
some  wealthy  region  was  renewed ;  the  caravan  marched  still 
farther  to  the  wegt.  For  seven  days  it  struggled  through  a 
wilderness  of  forests  and  marshes,  and  at  length  came  to  Ind- 
ian settlements  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  then 
described  as  more  than  a  mile  broad,  flowing  with  a  strong 
current,  and  by  its  weight  forcing  a  channel  of  great  depth. 
In  the  water,  which  was  always  muddy,  trees  were  continually 
floating  down. 

The  Spaniards  were  guided  by  natives  to  one  of  the  usual 
crossing-places,  probably  at  the  lowest  Chickasaw  bluff,  not  far 
from  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude.  The  arrival  of  the 
strangers  awakened  curiosity  and  fear.  A  multitude  of  people 
from  the  other  side  of  the  river,  painted  and  gayly  decorated 
with  great  plumes  of  white  feathers,  the  warriors  standing  in 
rows  with  bow  and  arrows  in  their  hands,  the  chieftains  sitting 
under  awnings  as  magnificent  as  the  artless  manufactures  of 
the  natives  could  weave,  came  rowing  down  the  stream  in  a 
fleet  of  two  hundred  canoes,  seeming  to  the  admiring  Spaniards 
"like  aiair  army. Df  .galleys."     They  brought  gifts  of  fish^  and 


1541-1542.      SPANIARDS  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY.        45 

loaves  madejof  the  fruit  of  the  persimmon.  The  boats  of  the 
natives  were  too  weak  to  transport  horses ;  almost  a  month 
expired  before  barges,  large  enough  to  hold  three  horsemen 
each,  were  constructed  for  crossing  the  river.  At  length,  at 
the  end  of  May,  the  Spaniards  embarked  upon  the  Mississippi, 
and  were  borne  to  its  western  bank. 

Dakota  tribes  then  occupied  the  country  south-west  of 
the  Missouri ;  Soto  had  heard  its  praises ;  he  believed  in  its 
vicinity  to  mineral  wealth,  and  determined  to  visit  its  towns. 
In  ascending  the  Mississippi  the  party  was  pften.  obliged  to 
wade  through  morasses  ;  in  June  they  came,  as  it  would  seem, 
upon  the  district  of  Little  Prairie,  and  the  dry  and  elevated 
lands  which  extend  toward  ]N'ew  Madrid.  Here  the  Spaniards 
were  adored  as  children  of  the  sun,  and  the  blind  were  brought 
into  their  presence  to  be  healed  by  the  sons  of  light.  "  Pray 
only  to  God,  who  is  in  heaven,  for  whatsoever  ye  need,"  said 
Soto  in  reply.  The  wild  fruits  of  that  region  were  abundant ; 
the  pecan  nut,  the  mulberry,  and  two  kinds  of  wild  plums, 
furnished  food  to  the  natives.  At  ^acaha,  the  northernmost 
point  which  Soto  reached  near  the  Mississippi,  he  remained 
forty  days,  till  near  the  end  of  July.  The  spot  cannot  be 
identified ;  but  the  accounts  of  the  amusements  of  the  Span- 
iards confirm  the  truth  of  the  narrative  of  their  ramblings. 
The  spade-fish,  the  most  whimsical  production  of  the  muddy 
streams  of  the  west,  so  rare  that  it  is  hardly  to  be  found  in 
any  museum,  is  accurately  described  by  the  best  historian  of 
the  expedition. 

A  party  which  was  sent  to  examine  the  regions  to  the 
north  reported  that  they  were  almost  a  desert.  The  country 
nearer  the  Missouri  was  said  by  the  Indians  to  be  thinly  in- 
habited; the  bison  abounded  there  so  much  that  no  maize 
could  be  cultivated,  and  the  few  inhabitants  were  hunters. 
In  August,  Soto  turned,  therefore,  to  the  west  and  north-west, 
and  plunged  still  more  deeply  into  the  interior  of  the  conti- 
nent. The  highlands  of  White  river,  more  than  two  hundred 
miles  from  the  Mississippi,  were  probably  the  limit  of  his 
march  in  this  direction.  The  mountains  ofibred  neither  gems 
nor  gold,  and  the  disappointed  explorers  marched  to  the  south. 
They  passed  through  a  succession  of  towns,  of  which  the  posi- 


4:6  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  pabt  i.  ;  oh.  hi. 

tion  cannot  be  fixed,  till  at  length  we  find  them  among  the 
^  Tunicas,  near  the  hot  springs  and  saline  tributaries  of  the 
Washita.  It  was  at  Autiam^e,  a  town  on  the  same  river, 
tliat  they  passed  the  winter ;  they  had  arrived  at  the  settle- 
ment through  the  country  of  the  Kappaws. 

The  native  tribes,  everywhere  on  the  route,  were  found  in 
a  state  of  civilization  beyond  that  of  nomadic  hordes.  They 
were  an  agricultural  people,  with  fixed  places  of  abode,  and 
subsisted  upon  the  produce  of  the  fields  more  than  upon  the 
chase.  Ignorant  of  the  arts  of  life,  they  could  offer  no  resist- 
ance to  their  unwelcome  visitors ;  the  bow  and  arrow  were  the 
most  effective  weapons  with  which  they  were  acquainted. 
They  seem  not  to  have  been  turbulent  or  quarrelsome ;  but, 
as  the  population  was  moderate  and  the  earth  fruitful,  the 
tribes  were  not  accustomed  to  contend  with  each  other  for 
the  possession  of  territories.  Their  dress  was,  in  part,  mats 
wrought  of  ivy  and  bulrushes,  of  the  bark  and  lint  of  trees ; 
in  cold  weather  they  wore  mantles  woven  of  feathers.  The 
settlements  were  by  tribes ;  each  tribe  occupied  what  the 
Spaniards  called  a  province ;  their  villages  were  generally  near 
together,  but  were  composed  of  few  habitations.  The  Span- 
iards treated  them  with  no  other  forbearance  than  their  own 
selfishness  demanded,  and  enslaved  such  as  offended,  employ- 
ing them  as  porters  and  guides.  On  a  slight  suspicion  they 
would  cu^  offthe  hands  of  numbers  of  the  natives  for  punish- 
ment or  intimidation ;  the  young  cavaliers,  from  desire  of 
seeming  valiant,  took  delight  in  cruelties  and  carnage.  The 
guide  who  was  unsuccessful,  or  who  purposely  led  them  away 
from  the  settlements  of  his  tribe,  would  be  seized  and  thrown 
to  thejbounds.  Sometimes  a  native  was  condemned  to  the 
flames.  Any  trifling  consideration  of  safety  would  induce  the 
governor  to  set  fire  to  a  hamlet.  The  happiness,  the  life,  and 
the  rights  of  the  Indians  were  held  of  no  account.  The  ap- 
proach of  the  S;paniards  was  heard  with  dismay,  and  their 
^  departure  hastened  by  the  suggestion  of  wealthier  lands  at  a 
distance. 

In  the  spring  of  1542  Soto  determined  to  descend  the 
Washita  to  its  junction,  and  to  get  tidings  of  the  sea.  As  he 
advanced,  he  was  soon  lost  amidst  the  bayous  and  marshes 


1542-1543.      SPANIARDS  IN"  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.        47 

which  are  found  along  the  Red  river  and  its  tributaries. 
'NesLT  the  Mississippi  he  came  upon  the  country  of  l^ilco, 
which  was  well  peopled.  The  river  was  there  larger  than  the 
Guadalquivir  at  Seville.  In  the  middle  of  April  he  arrived  at 
the  province  where  the  Washita,  already  united  with  the  Red 
river,  enters  the  Mississippi.  The  province  was  called  Gua- 
choja.  Soto  anxiously  inquired  the  distance  to  the  sea ;  the 
chieftain  of  Guachoya  could  not  tell.  Were  there  settlements 
extending  along  the  river  to  its  mouth  ?  It  was  answered  that 
its  lower  banks  were  an  uninhabited  waste.  Unwilling  to  be- 
lieve so  disheartening  a  tale,  Soto  sent  one  of  his  men,  with 
eight  horsemen,  to  descend  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
explore  the  country.  They  travelled  eight  days,  and  were  able 
to  advance  not  much  more  than  thirty  miles,  they  were  so  de- 
layed by  the  frequent  bayous,  impassable  canebrakes,  and  the 
dense  woods.  The  governor  received  the  intelligence  with 
gloom.  His  horses  and  men  were  dying  around  him;  the 
natives  were  becoming  dangerous  enemies.  He  attempted  to 
overawe  a  tribe  of  Indians  near  Natchez  by  claiming  a  super- 
natural birth,  and  demanding  obedience  and  tribute.  "  You 
say  you  are  the  child  of  the  sun,"  replied  the  undaunted  chief; 
"  dry  up  the  river  and  I  will  believe  you.  Do  you  desire  to 
see  me  ?  Yisit  the  town  where  I  dwell.  If  you  come  in 
peace,  I  will  receive  you  with  special  good- will ;  if  in  w^ar,  I 
will  not  shrink  one  foot  back."  But  Soto  was  no  longer  able 
to  abate  the  confidence  or  punish  the  temerity  of  the  natives. 
His  stubborn  pride  was  changed  by  long  disappointments  into 
a  wasting  melancholy.  A  malignant  fever  ensued,  during 
which  he  had  little  comfort,  and  was  neither  visited  nor  at- 
tended as  the  last  hours  of  life  demand.  Believing  his  death 
near  at  hand,  on  the  twentieth  of  May  he  held  a  last  interview 
with  his  followers ;  and,  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  his  compan- 
ions, who  obeyed  him  to  the  end,  he  named  a  successor.  On 
the  next  day  he  died.  Thus  perished  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  the 
governor  of  Cuba,  the  successful  associate  of  Pizarro.  His 
miserable  end  was  the  more  observed  from  the  greatness  of 
his  former  prosperity.  His  soldiers  pronounced  his  eulogy  by 
f,Tieving  for  their  loss  ;  the  priests  chanted  over  his  body  the 
first  requiems  that  were  ever  heard  on  the  waters  of  the  Mis- 


48  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paet  i.  ;  ch.  hi. 

sissippi.     To  conceal  liis  death,  his  body  was  wrapped  in  a 
•^    mantle,  and  in  the  stillness  of  midnight  was  sunk  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  stream. 

1^0  longer  sustained  by  the  energy  and  pride  of  Soto,  the 
company  resolved  on  reaching  New  Spain  without  delay.  To 
do  this  they  must  either  descend  the  river  in  such  frail  boats 
as  they  could  put  together,  or  attempt  the  long  pathway  to 
Mexico  through  the  forests.  They  were  unanimous  in  the 
opinion  that  it  was  less  dangerous  to  go  by  land ;  the  hope  was 
still  cherished  that  some  wealthy  state,  some  opulent  city, 
might  yet  be  discovered,  and  all  fatigues  be  forgotten  in  the 
midst  of  victory  and  spoils.  Again  they  penetrated  the  west- 
ern wilderness ;  in  July  they  found  themselves  in  the  country 
^  of  the  Natchitoches ;  but  the  Red  river  was  so  swollen  that  it 
could  not  be  crossed  by  them.  The  Indian  guides  purposely 
led  them  astray ;  "  they  went  up  and  down  through  very  great 
woods,"  without  making  any  progress.  The  wilderness,  into 
which  they  had  at  last  wandered,  was  sterile  and  scarcely  in- 
habited ;  they  had  now  reached  the  great  buffalo  prairies  of 
the  west,  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  Pawnees  and  Comanches, 
the  migratory  tribes  on  the  confines  of  Mexico.  The  Span- 
iards believed  themselves  to  be  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty 
leagues  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Desperate  as  the  resolution 
seemed,  it  was  determined  to  return  once  more  to  its  banks, 
and  follow  its  current  to  the  sea.  There  were  not  wanting 
men,  whose  hopes  and  whose  courage  were  not  yet  exhausted, 
who  wished  rather  to  die  in  the  wilderness  than  to  leave  it  in 
poverty ;  but  Moscoso,  the  new  governor,  had  long  "  desired 
to  see  himself  in  a  place  where  he  might  sleep  his  full  sleep." 
In  December  they  cam*^  upon  the  Mississippi  at  Minoya,  a 
few  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  Red  river,  often  wading 
through  deep  waters,  and  grateful  to  God  if  at  night  they  could 
find  a  dry  resting-place.  The  Indians  whom  they  had  enslaved 
died  in  great  numbers ;  in  Minoya  the  Christians  were  at- 
tacked by  a  dangerous  epidemic^_andmany  died. 

Nor  was  their  labor  yet  at  an  end;  ft  took  the  first  five 
months  of  1543  for  men  in  their  condition  to  build  brigantines. 
Erecting  a  forge,  they  struck  off  the  fetters Jrom  the  slaves; 
and,  gathering  every  scrap  of  iron  in  the  camp,  they  wrought 


1543.  SPANIARDS  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.  49 

it  into  nails.  Timber  was  sawed  by  hand  with  a  large  saw, 
which  they  had  always  carried  with  them.  They  calked  their 
vessels  with  a  weed  like  hemp;  barrels,  capable  of  holding 
water,  were  with  difficulty  made ;  to  obtain  supplies  of  pro- 
vision, all  the  hogs  and  even_the  horses  were  killed,  and  their 
flesh  preserved  by  drying ;  and  the  neighboring  townships  of 
Indians  were  so  plundered  of  their  food  that  the  miserable  in- 
habitants would  come  about  the  Spaniards  begging  for  a  few 
kernels  of  their  own  maize,  and  often  died  from  weakness  and 
want  of  food.  The  rising  of  the  Mississippi  assisted  the  launchi 
ing  of  the  seven  brigantines ;  they  were  frail  barks,  which 
had  no  decks ;  and  as,  from  the  want  of  iron,  the  nails  were 
of  necessity  short,  they  were  constructed  of  very  thin  planks, 
so  that  any  severe  shock  would  have  broken  them  in  pieces. 
Thus  provided,  after  a  passage  of  seventeen  days,  the  fugitives, 
on  the  eighteenth  of  July,  reached  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  the 
distance  seemed  to  them  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues,  and 
was  not  much  less  than  five  hundred  miles.  Like  Cabeza,  they 
observed  that  for  some  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi the  sea  is  not  salt,  so  great  is  the  volume  of  fresh 
water  which  the  river  discharges.  Following  for  the  most 
part  the  coast,  it  was  more  than  fifty  days  before  the  men  who 
finally  escaped,  now  no  more  than  three  hundred  and  eleven 
in  number,  on  the  tenth  of  September  entered_thejjver  Pa- 
nuco. 


BRA 


TJNIVERSITT 


50  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  pabt  i.  ;  ch.  rr. 


CHAPTEK  ly. 

THE    SPANIARDS    HOLD    FLOEIDA. 

SiJCH  is  the  history  of  the  first  voyage  of  Europeans  on  the 
Mississippi ;  the  honor  of  the  discovery  belongs  to  the  Span- 
iards. There  were  not  wanting  adventurers  who,  in  1544,  de- 
sired to  make  one  imire  attempt  to  possess  the  country  by  force 
of  arms ;  their  request  was^;efused.  Rehgious  zeal  was  more 
persevering ;  in  December,  1547,  Louis  Can  cello,  a  missionary 
of  the  Doglinican  order,  gained  through  Philip,  then  heir 
apparent  in  Spain,  permission  to  visit  Florida  and  attempt  the 
peaceful  conversion  of  the  natives.  Christianity  was  to  con- 
quer the  land  against  which  so  many  experienced  warriors  had 
failed.  The  Spanish  governors  were  directed  to  favor  the  de- 
sign ;  all  slaves  that  had  been  taken  from  the  northern  shore 
of  the  GuK  of  Mexico  were  to  be  manumitted  and  restored  to 
their  country.  In  1549  a  ship  was  fitted  out  with  much  so- 
lemnity ;  but  the  priests,  who  sought  the  first  interview  with 
the  natives,  were  feared  as  enemies,  and,  being  immediately 
\  attacked,  Louis  and  two  others  fell  martyrs  to  their  zeal. 

Death  seemed  to  guard  the  approaches  to  that  land.  "While 
the  Castilians  were  everywhere  else  victorious,  they  were 
driven  for  a  time  to  abandon  the  soil  of  Florida,  after  it  was 
wet  with  their  blood.  But  under  that  name  they  continued  to 
claim  all  IS^orth  America,  even  as  far  as  Canada  and  New- 
foundland. No  history  exists  of  their  early  exploration  of  the 
coast,  nor  is  even  the  name  of  the  Spanish  navigator  ascer- 
tained who,  between  the  years  1524  and  1540,  discovered  the 
Chesapeake,  and  made  it  known  as  "  the  bay  of  St.  Mary." 
Under  that  appellation  the  historian  Oviedo,  writing  a  little 
after  1540,  describes  it  as  opening  to  the  sea  in  the  latitude  of 


1546-1564.  THE  SPANIARDS  HOLD  FLORIDA.  51 

thirtj-six  degrees  and  forty  minutes,  and  as  including  islands  ; 
of  two  rivers  which  it  receives,  he  calls  the  north-eastern  one 
Salt  river,  the  other  the  river  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  cape  to. 
the  north  of  it,  which  he  places  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-seven 
degrees,  be  names  Cape  St.  John.  The  bay  of  St.  Mary  is 
marked  on  all  Spanish  maps,  after  the  year  1549.  But  as  yet 
not  a  Spanish  fort  was  erected  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  not  a 
harbor  was  occupied,  not  one  settlement  was  begun.  The 
first  permanent  establishment  of  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  was  | 
the  result  of  jealous  bigotry. 

For  France  had  begun  to  settle  the  region  with  a  colony 
of  Protestants ;  and  Calvinism,  which,  with  the  special  co-op- 
eration of _Calvin^biinself,  had  for  a  short  season  occupied  the 
coasts  of  Brazil  and  the  harbor  of  Rio  Janeiro,  was  now  to  be 
planted  on  the  borders  of  Florida.  Colignj  had  long  desired  / 
to  establish  a  refuge  for  the  Huguenots  and  a  Protestant  1 
French  empire  in  America.  Disappointed  in  his  first  effort 
by  the  apostasy  and  faithlessness  of  his  agent,  Yillegagnon,  he 
still  persevered,  moved  alike  by  religious  zeal  and  by  a  passion 
for  the  honor  of  France.  The  expedition  which  he  now 
planned  was  intrusted  to  the  command  of  John  Ribault,  of 
Dieppe,  a  brave  man,  of  maritime  experience,  and  a  firm 
Protestant ;  and  was  attended  by  some  of  the  best  of  the  young 
French  nobility,  as  well  as  by  veteran  troops.  The  feeble 
Charles  IX.  conceded  an  ample  commission,  and  in  February, 
1562,  the  squadron  set  sail  for  the  shores  of  North  America. 
Land  was  first  made  by  the  voyagers  in  the  latitude  of  St. 
Augustine ;  the  noble  river  which  we  call  the  St.  John's  was 
named  the  river  of  May,  from  the  month  in  which  it  was  dis- 
covered. The  land  seemed  rich  in  gold,  silver,  and  pearls, 
and  its  caterpillars  were  taken  for  "fairer  and  better  silk- 
worms" than  those  of  Europe.  As  they  sailed  toward  the 
north,  three  streams  were  named  the  Seine,  the  Loire,  and  the 
Garonne.  In  searching  for  the  Jordan,  they  came  "  athwart 
a  mightie  river,"  which  they  called  Port  Royal.  Casting 
.  anchor  at  ten  fathom  of  water,  Ribault  landed  with  a  party  at 
Hilton  Head,  where  they  saw  "  high  oaks  and  an  infinite  store 
of  cedars,"  and  heard  "  the  voices  of  stags  and  divers  other 
sorts  of  beasts."     Some  who  threw  nets  wondered  at  the  num- 


52  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  paet  i.  ;  ch.  iy. 

ber  of  fish  which  they  caught.  After  sheltering  his  ships  in 
the  sound,  he  explored  the  country  on  Broad  river  many 
leagues  high,  and  was  at  first  feared  and  then  welcomed  by  the 
red  men  whom  he  chanced  to  meet.  The  stags  were  of  "  sin- 
gular fairness  and  bigness."  Palm-trees  abounded.  A  stone 
engraven  with  the  arms  of  France  was  set  up  to  mark  posses- 
sion of  the  country,  and  a  party  of  twenty-six  was  left  on  the 
bank  of  Beaufort  river  to  hold  it.  Their  earth-work  fort  may 
have  stood  on  the  first  firm  land  of  Port  Royal  island  above 
Archer's  creek ;  in  honor  of  Charles  IX.  it  was  named  Carolina. 

In  July,  Pibault  and  the  ships  arrived  safely  in  France. 
But  the  fires  of  civil  war  had  been  kindled  in  all  the  provinces 
of  the  kingdom  ;  and  the  promised  re-enforcements  for  Caro- 
lina were  never  levied.  The  situation  of  the  garrison  became 
precarious.  The  natives  were  friendly,  but  the  soldiers  them- 
selves were  insubordinate,  and  dissensions  prevailed.  The 
commandant  at  Carolina  repressed  the  turbulent  spirit  with 
arbitrary  cruelty,  and  lost  his  life  in  a  mutiny  which  his  un- 
governable passion  had  provoked.  The  new  commander  suc- 
ceeded in  restoring  order.  But  the  love  of  his  native  land  is 
a  passion  easily  revived  in  the  breast  of  a  Frenchman  ;  and  in 
1563  the  company  embarked  in  such  a  brigantine  as  they  could 
themselves  put  together.  Intoxicated  with  joy  at  the  thought 
of  returning  home,  they  had  neglected  to  provide  sufficient 
stores,  and  they  were  overtaken  by  famine  at  sea.  A  small 
English  bark  which  boarded  their  vessel,  setting  the  most  fee- 
ble on  shore  upon  the  coast  of  France,  carried  the  rest  to  the 
queen  of  England. 

After  the  treacherous  peace  between  Charles  IX.  and  the 
Huguenots,  Coligny  renewed  his  solicitations  for  the  coloni- 
zation of  Florida.  The  king  gave  consent ;  in  1564  three  ships 
were  conceded  for  the  service ;  and  Laudonniere,  who,  in  the 
former  voyage,  had  been  upon  the  American  coast,  a  man  of 
great  intelligence,  though  a  seaman  rather  than  a  soldier,  was 
appointed  to  lead  forth  the  colony.  Emigrants  readily  ap- 
peared, for  the  climate  of  Florida  was  so  celebrated  that,  ac- 
cording to  rumor,  the  duration  of  human  life  was  doubled 
under  its  genial  influences  ;  and  men  still  dreamed  of  rich 
mines  of  gold  in  the  interior.    Coligny  was  desirous  of  obtain- 


1564r-1566.         THE  SPANIARDS  HOLD   FLORIDA.  53 

ing  accurate  descriptions  of  the  country ;  and  James  le  Moyne^ 
called  De  Morgues,  an  ingenious  painter,  was  commissioned 
to  execute  colored  drawings  of  the  objects  which  might  engage 
his  curiosity.  A  voyage  of  sixty  days  brought  the  fleet,  by 
the  way  of  the  Canaries  and  the  Antilles,  to  the  shores  of 
Florida  in  June.  The  harbor  of  Port  Royal,  rendered  gloomy 
by  recollections  of  misery,  was  avoided ;  and,  after  searching 
the  coast,  and  discovering  places  which  were  so  full  of  amenity 
that  melancholy  itself  could  not  but  change  its  humor  as  it 
gazed,  the  followers  of  Calvin  planted  themselves  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  May,  near  St.  John's  bluff.  They  sung  a  psalm 
of  thanksgiving,  and  gathered  courage  from  acts  of  devotion. 
The  fort  now  erected  was  named  Carolina.  The  result  of 
this  attempt  to  procure  for  France  immense  dominions  at 
the  south  of  our  republic  through  the  agency  of  a  Huguenot 
colony,  has  been  very  frequently  narrated ;  it  forms  a  dark 
picture  of  malignant  and  merciless  bigotry. 

The  French  were  hospitably  welcomed  by  the  natives ;  a 
monument,  bearing  the  arms  of  France,  was  crowned  with 
laurels,  and  its  base  encircled  with  baskets  of  corn.  What 
need  is  there  of  minutely  relating  the  simple  manners  of  the 
red  men,  the  dissensions  of  rival  tribes,  the  largesses  offered 
to  the  strangers  to  secure  their  protection  or  their  alliance,  the 
improvident  prodigality  with  which  careless  soldiers  wasted 
the  supplies  of  food ;  the  certain  approach  of  scarcity ;  the 
gifts  and  the  tribute  levied  from  the  Indians  by  entreaty,  men- 
ace, or  force  ?  By  degrees  the  confidence  of  the  red  men  was 
exhausted ;  they  had  welcomed  powerful  guests,  who  prom- 
ised  to  become  their  benefactors,  and  who  now  robbed  their 
humble  granaries. 

But  the  worst  evil  in  the  new  settlement  was  the  character 
of  the  emigrants.  Though  patriotism  and  religious  enthu- 
siasm had  prompted  the  expedition,  the  inferior  class  of  the 
colonists  was  a  motley  group  of  dissolute_men.  Mutinies  were 
frequent.  The  men  were  mad  with  the  passion  for  sudden 
wealth ;  and  in  December  a  party,  under  the  pretence  of  de- 
siring to  escape  from  famine,  compelled  Laudonniere  to  sign 
an  order  permitting  their  embarkation  for  New  Spain.  No 
sooner  were  they  possessed  of  this  apparent  sanction  of  the 


iX 


54  COLONIAL   HISTORY.  part  i.  ;  oh.  it. 

cliief  than  thej  began  a  career  of  piracy  against  the  Span- 
iards.  The  act  of  crime  and  temerity  was  soon  avenged.  The 
pirate  vessel  was  taken,  and  most  of  the  men  disposed  of  as 
prisoners  or  slaves.  The  few  that  escaped  in  a  boat  sought 
shelter  at  Fort  Carolina,  where  Laudonniere  sent^ced  the 
ringleaders  to  death. 

During  these  events  the  scarcity  became  extreme ;  and  the 
friendship  of  the  natives  was  forfeited  by  unprofitable  sever- 
ity. March  of  1565,  was  gone,  and  there  were  no  supplies 
from  France ;  April  passed  away,  and  the  expected  recruits 
had  not  arrived ;  May  brought  nothing  to  sustain  the  hopes  of 
the  exiles,  and  they  resolved  to  attempt  a  return  to  Europe. 
In  August^  Sir  John  Hawkins,  the  slaye_^merchant,  arrived 
from  the  West  Indies.  He  came  fresh  from  the  sale  of  a  car^-o 
of  Africans,  whom  he  had  kidnapped  with  signal  ruthlessness ; 
and  he  now  displayed  the  most  generous  sympathy,  not  only 
furnishing  a  liberal  supply  of  provisions,  but  relinquishing  a 
vessel  from  his  own  fleet.  The  colony  was  on  the  point  of 
embarking  when  sails  were  descried.  Ribault  had  arrived  to 
assume  the  command,  bringing  with  him  supplies  of  every 
kind,  emigrants  with  their  families,  garden-seeds,  implements 
of  husbandry,  and  the  various  kinds  of  domestic  animals. 
The  French,  now  wild  with  joy,  seemed  about  to  acquire  a 
home,  and  Calvinism  to  become  fixed  in  the  inviting  regions 
of  Florida. 

But  Spain  had  never  abandoned  her  claim  to  that  terri- 
tory, where,  if  she  had  not  planted  colonies,  she  had  buried 
many  hundreds  of  her  bravest  sons.     Should  the  proud  Philip 
II.  abandon  a  part  of  his  dominions  to  France  ?     Should  he 
sufier  his  commercial  monopoly  to  be  endangered  by  a  rival 
t\ settlement  in  the  vicinity  of  the  West  Indies?     Should  he 
upermit  the  heresy  of  Calvinism  to  be  planted  in  the  neighbor- 
mood  of  his  Catholic  provinces  ?     There  had  appeared  at  the 
Spanish  court  a  commander  well  fitted  for  reckless  acts.     Pe- 
dro Melendezjde  Aviles,  often,  as  a  nayalofficer,  encountering 
pirates,  had  become  inured  to  acts  of  prompt  and  unsparing 
vengeance.     He   had   acquired  wealth  in  Spanish  America, 
which  was  no  school  of  benevolence,  and  his  conduct  there 
had  provoked  an  inquiry,  which,  after  a  long  arrest,  ended  in 


1585.  THE  SPANIARDS  HOLD  FLORIDA.  55 

liis  conviction.  The  heir  of  Melendez  had  been  shipwrecked 
among  the  Bermudas ;  the  father  desired  to  return  and  search 
among  the  islands  for  tidings  of  his  only  son.  Philip  II.  sug- 
gested the  conquest  and  colonization  of  Florida ;  and  in  May, 
1565,  a  compact  was  framed  and  coniirmed  by  which  Melen- 
dez, who  desired  an  ''opportunity  to  retrjgye  his^honor^'  was 
constituted  the  hereditary^^vemor  of  a  territory  of  almost 
unlimited  extent. 

On  his  part  he  stipulated,  at  his_own  cost,  in  the  follow- 
ing May,  to  invade  Florida  with  five  hundred  men ;  to  com- 
plete its  conquest  within  three  years ;  to  explore  its  currents 
and  channels,  the  dangers  of  its  coasts,  and  the  depth  of  its 
havens;  to  establish  a  colony  of  at  least  five  hundred  per- 
sons, of  whom  one  hundred  should  be  married  men ;  with 
twelve  ecclesiastics,  besides  four  Jesuits.  He  further  en- 
gaged to  introduce  into  his  province  all  kinds  of  domestic 
animals  and  five  hundred  negro  slaves.  The  sugar-cane  was 
to  become  a  staple  of  the  country. 

The  king,  in  return,  promised  the  undertaker  various  com- 
mercial immunities ;  the  office  of  governor  for  life,  with  the 
right  of  naming  his  son-in-law  as  his  successor;  an  estate  of 
twenty-five  square  leagues  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
settlement ;  a  salary  of  two  thousand  ducats,  chargeable  on 
the  revenues  of  the  province ;  and  a  fifteenth  part  of  all  royal 
perquisites. 

Meantime,  news  arrived,  as  the  French  TVTiters  assert 
through  the  treachery  of  the  court  of  France,  that  the  Hu- 
guenots had  made  a  plantation  in  Florida,  and  that  Ribault 
was  preparing  to  set  sail  with  re-enforcements.  The  cry  was 
raised  that  the  heretics  must  be  extirpated ;  and  Melendez 
readily  obtained  the  forces  which  he  required.  More  than 
twenty-five  hundred^_^ersons — soldiers,  sailors,  priests,  Jesuits, 
married  men  with  their  families,  laborers,  and  mechanics,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  three  hundred  soldiers,  alLat_the_cost  of 
Melendez — undertook  the  invasion.  The  trade- winds  of  July 
bore  them  rapidly  across  the  Atlantic,  but  a  tempest  scattered 
the  fleet  on  the  way ;  it  was  with  only  one  third  part  of  his 
forces  that  Melendez  reached  the  harbor  of  St.  John  in  Porto 
Kico.  ...But  he  esteemed  celerity  the  secret  of  success ;  and, 


56  COLONIAL  HISTORY.  pa.et  i.  ;  ch.  iv. 

refusing  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of  his  squadron,  he 
sailed  for  Florida.  It  had  been  his  design  to  explore  the 
coast ;  to  select  a  favorable  site  for  a  settlement ;  and,  after 
constructing  fortifications,  to  attack  the  French.  On  the 
twenty-eighth  of  August,  the  day  which  the  customs  of 
Rome  have  consecrated  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  sons  of  Africa,  and  one  of  the  most  venerated  of  the 
fathers  of  the  church,  he  came  in  sight  of  Florida.  For  four 
days  he  sailed  along  the  coast,  uncertain  where  the  French 
were  established ;  on  the  fifth  day  he  landed,  and  gathered 
from  the  Indians  accounts  of  the  Huguenots.  At  the  same 
time  he  discovered  a  fine  haven  and  beautiful  river;  and, 
remembering  the  saint  on  whose  day  he  neared  the  coast,  he 
gave  to  the  harbor  and  to  the  stream  the  name  of  St.  Au- 
gustine. Sailing  then  to  the  north,  he  espied  a  portion  of 
the  French  fleet,  and  observed  the  road  where  they  were  an- 
chored. The  French  demanded  his  name  and  objects.  "I 
am  Melendez  of  Spain,"  replied  he ;  "  sent  with  strict  orders 
from  my  king  to  gibbet  and  behead  all  the  Protestants  in 
these  regions.  The  Frenchman  who  is  a  Catholic  I  will 
spare  ;  every  heretic  shall  die."  The  French  fleet,  unprepared 
for  action,  cut  its  cables ;  the  Spaniards,  for  some  time,  con- 
tinued an  ineffectual  chase. 

At  the  hour  of  vespers,  on  the  evening  preceding  the  anni- 
versary of  the  nativity  of  Mary,  the  Spaniards  returned  to 
the  harbor  of  St.  Augustine.  At  noonday  of  the  festival — 
that  is,  on  the  eighth  of  September — ^the  governor  went  on 
shore  to  take  jDOssession  of  the  continent  in  the  name  of  his 
king.  Philip  II.  was  proclaimed  monarch  of  all  [N'orth  Amer- 
ica. The  mass  of  Our  Lady  was  performed,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  St.  Augustine  immediately  laid.  It  is,  by  more  than 
forty  years,  the  oldest  town  in  the  union,  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

Among  the  French  it  was  debated  whether  they  should  im- 
prove their  fortifications  and  await  the  approach  of  the  Span- 
iards, or  proceed  to  sea  and  attack  their  enemy.  Against  the 
advice  of  his  officers,  Ribault  resolved  upon  the  latter  course. 
Hardly  had  he  left  the  harbor  for  the  open  sea  before  there 
arose   a   fearful   storm,    which   continued   till   October,   and 


1566-1566.  THE  SPANIARDS  HOLD  FLORIDA.  57 

wrecked  every  ship  of  the  French  fleet  on  the  Florida  coast. 
The  vessels  were  dashed  against  the  rocks  abont  fifty  leagues 
south  of  Fort  Carolina ;  most  of  the  men  escaped  with  their 
lives. 

The  Spanish  ships  suffered,  but  not  so  severely ;  and  the 
troops  at  St.  Augustine  were  entirely  safe.  They  knew  that 
the  French  settlement  was  left  in  a  defenceless  state.  Melen- 
dez  led  his  men  through  the  low  land  that  divides  the  St. 
Augustine  from  the  St.  John's,  and  with  a  furious  onset  sur- 
prised the  weak  garrison,  who  had  looked  only  toward  the  sea 
for  the  approach  of  danger.  After  a  short  contest,  the  Span- 
iards, on  the  twenty-first,  became  masters  of  the  fort,  and  sol-/ 
diers,  women,  children,  the  aged,  the  sick,  were  alike  massa-l 
cred.  The  Spanish  account  asserts  that  Melendez  ordered 
women  and  young  children  to  be  spared ;  yet  not  till  after 
the  havoc  had  long  been  raging. 

Nearly  tvmjiundjmd_j)grsons  were  kiUf^d.  A  few  escaped 
into  the  woods,  among  them  Laudonniere,  Challus,  and  Le 
Moyne,  who  have  related  the  horrors  of  the  scene.  But 
whither  should  they  fly?  Death  met  them  in  the  woods; 
and  the  heavens,  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  men,  all  seemed  con- 
spired against  them.  Should  they  surrender,  appealing  to  the 
sympathy  of  their  conquerors  ?  "  Let  us,"  said  Challus,  "  trust 
in  the  mercy  of  God  rather  than  of  these  men."  A  few  gave 
themselves  up,  and  were  immediately  put  to  death.  The 
others,  after  the  severest  sufferings,  found  their  way  to  the 
sea-side,  and  were  received  on  board  two  small  French  vessels 
which  had  remained  in  the  harbor. 

The  victory  had  been  gained  on  the  festival  of  St.  Mat- 
thew ;  and  hence  the  Spanish  name  of  the  river  May.  After 
the  carnage,  mass  was  said ;  a  cross  raised ;  and  the  site  for  a 
church  selected,  on  ground  still  smoking  with  the  blood  of  a 
peaceful  colony. 

The  shipwrecked  men  were,  in  their  turn,  soon  discovered. 
Melendez  invited  them  to  rely  on  his  compassion  ;  in  a  state 
of  helpless  weakness,  wasted  by  their  fatigues  at  sea,  half  fam- 
ished, destitute  of  water  and  of  food,  they  capitulated,  and  in 
successive  divisions  were  ferried  across  the  intervening  river. 
As  the  captives  stepped  upon  the  opposite  bank  their  hands 

VOL.  I. — 6 


68  COLONIAL  HISTOEY.  paet  i.  ;  oh.  it. 

were  tied  beliind  them ;  and  in  this  way  they  were  marched 
toward  St.  Augustine,  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter-house. 
When  they  approached  the  fort,  a  signal  was  given;  and, 
lamid  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  drums,  the  Spaniards,  sparing 
la  few  Catholics  and  reserving  some  mechanics  as  slaves,  mas- 
I  sacred  the  rest,  "  not  as  Frenchmen,  but  as  Lutherans."  The 
whole  number  of  victims  here  and  at  the  fort  is  said,  by  the 
French,  to  have  been  about  nine  hundred;  the  Spanish  ac- 
counts diminish  the  number  of  the  slain,  but  not  the  atrocity 
of  the  deed. 

In  1566  Melenjez  despatched  a  vessel  from  his  squadron, 
with  thirty  soldiers  and  two  Dominicans,  to  settle  the  lands 
on  the  Chesapeake  bay,  then  known  as  St.  Mary's,  and  convert 
its  inhabitants ;  but,  disheartened  by  contrary  winds  and  the 
certain  perils  of  the  proposed  colonization,  they  turned  about 
before  coming  near  the  bay,  and  sailed  for  Seville,  spreading 
the  worst  accounts  of  a  country  which  none  of  them  had  seen. 

Melendez  returned  to  Spain,  impoverished,  but  triumphant. 
The  French  government  made  not  even  a  remonstrance  on  the 
ruin  of  a  colony  which,  if  it  had  been  protected,  would  have 
given  to  France  an  empire  in  the  south,  before  England  had 
planted  a  single  spot  on  the  new  continent. 

The  Huguenots  and  the  French  nation  did  not  share  the 
indifference  of  the  court.  Dominic  de  Gourgues — a  bold  sol- 
dier of  Gascony,  whose  life  ST  been  a  series^f  adventures, 
now  employed  in  the  army  against  Spain,  now  a  prisoner  and 
a  galley-slave  among  the  Spaniards,  taken  by  the  Turks  with 
the  vessel  in  which  he  rowed,  and  redeemed  by  the  com- 
mander of  the  knights  of  Malta — burned  with  a  desire  to 
avenge  his  own  wrongs  and  the  honor  of  his  country.  The 
sale  of  his  property  and  the  contributions  of  his  friends  fur- 
nished the  means  of  equipping  three  ships,  in  which,  with  one 
hundred  and  fifty^jnen,  he,  on  the  twenty-second  of  August, 
15677embarkedfor  Florida,  to  destroy  and  revenge.  He  sur- 
prised two  forts  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Matthew ;  and,  as 
terror  magnified  the  number  of  his  followers,  the  consterna- 
tion of  the  Spaniards  enabled  him  to  gain  possession  of  the 
larger  establishment,  near  the  spot  which  the  French  colony 
had  occupied.     Too  weak  to  maintain  his  position,  he,  in  May, 


1567-1573.         THE  SPANIARDS  HOLD  FLORIDA.  59 

1568^  hastily  weighed  anchor  for  Europe,  having  first  hanged 
his  prisoners  upon  the  trees,  and  placed  over  them  the  inscrip- 
tion :  "  I  do  not  this  as  unto  Spaniards  or  mariners,  but  as  / 
unto  traitors,  robbers,  and  murderers/'  The  natives,  who  had  > 
been  ill-treated  both  by  the  Spaniards  and  the  French,  enjoyed  ^^ 
the  consolation  of  seeing  their  enemies  butcher  one  another.  ' 
The  attack  of  the  fiery  Gascon  was  but  a  passing  storm. 
France  disavowed  the  expedition,  and  relinquished  all  preten- 
sion to  Florida.  Spain  grasped  at  it  as  a  portion  of  her  do- 
minions ;  and,  if  discovery  could  confer  a  right,  her  claim  was 
founded  in  justice.  In  1573,  Pedro  Meleiid£2  Marquez. 
nephew  to  the  adelantado,  Melendez  de  Aviles,  pursued  the 
explorations  begun  by  his  relative.  Having  traced  the  coast 
line  from  the  southern  cape  of  Florida,  he  sailed  into  the 
Chesapeake  bay,  estimated  the  distance  between  its  headlands, 
took  soundings  of  the  water  in  its  channel,  and  observed  its 
many  harbors  and  deep  rivers,  navigable  for  ships.  His  voy- 
age may  have  extended  a  few  miles  north  of  the  bay.  The 
territory  which  he  saw  was  held  by  Spain  to  be  a  part  of  her 
dominions,  but  was  left  by  her  in  abeyance.  Cuba  remained 
the  centre  of  her  West  Indian  possessions,  and  everything 
around  it  was  included  within  her  empire.  Her  undisputed 
sovereignty  was  asserted  not  only  over  the  archipelagoes  with- 
in the  tropics,  but  over  the  continent  round  the  inner  seas. 
From  the  remotest  south-eastern  cape  of  the  Caribbean,  along 
the  continuous  shore  to  the  cape  and  Atlantic  coast  of 
Florida,  all  was  hers.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  lay  embosomed 
within  her  territories. 


60  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  oh.  v. 


\ 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

THE    ENGLISH    ATTEMPT   COLONIZATION. 

KoBEET  Thoene  and  Eliot,  of  Bristol,  visited  Newfound- 
land probably  in  1502;  in  that  year  savages  in  their  wild 
attire  were  exhibited  to  the  king ;  but  as  yet  the  only  inter- 
course between  England  and  the  New  "World  was  with  its 
fisheries.  In  the  conception  of  Europe  the  new  continent  was  -h 
very  slowly  disengaged  from  the  easternmost  lands  of  Asia,-f 
and  its  colonization  was  not  earnestly  attempted  till  its  sepa- 
rate existence  was  ascertained. 

Besides,  Henry  YII.,  as  a  Catholic,  could  not  wholly  disre- 
gard the  bull  of  the  pope,  which  gave  to  Spain  a  paramount 
title  to  the  North  American  world  ;  and  as  a  prince  he  sought 
a  counterpoise  to  France  in  an  intimate  Spanish  alliance,  which ^'J^ 
he  hoped  to  confirm  by  the  successive  marriage  of  one  of  his 
sons  after  the  other  to  Catharine  of  Aragon,  youngest  daughter 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

Henry  YIIL,  on  his  accession,  surrendered  to  his  father-in- 
law  the  services  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  To  avoid  interference 
with  Spain,  Thome,  who  had  long  resided  in  Seville,  pro- 
posed voyages  to  the  east  by  way  of  the  north ;  believing  that 
there  would  be  found  an  open  sea  near  the  pole,  over  which, 
during  the  arctic  continuous  day.  Englishmen  might  reach  the 
Indies. 

In  1527  an  expedition,  favored  by  the  king  and  Wolsey, 
sailed  from  Plymouth  for  the  discovery  of  the  north-west 
passage.  But  the  larger  ship  was  lost  in  July  among  icebergs, 
in  a  great  storm  ;  in  August,  accounts  of  the  disaster  were 
forwarded  to  the  king  and  to  the  cardinal  from  the  haven  of 
St.  John,  in  Newfoundland. 


1533-1554.    ENGLISH  COLONIZATION  OF  AMERICA.  61 

By  the  repudiation  of  Catharine  of  Aragon,  Henry  YIII. 
sundered  his  political  connection  with  Spain,  and  opened  the 
New  World  to  English  rivalry.  He  was  resolute  in  his  at- 
tempts to  suppress  piracy  ;  and  the  navigation  of  his  subjects 
flourished  under  his  protection.  The  banner  of  St.  George 
was  often  displayed  in  the  harbors  of  Northern  Africa  and  in 
the  Levant;  and  now  that  commerce,  emancipated  from  the 
limits  of  the  inner  seas,  went  boldly  forth  upon  the  oceans, 
the  position  of  England  summoned  her  to  derive  advantage 
from  the  change. 

An  account  exists  of  an  expedition  to  the  north-west  in 
1536,  conducted  by  Hore  of  London,  and  "assisted  by  the 
good  countenance  of  Henry  YHI."  But  the  two  ships,  the 
Trinity  and  the  Minion,  were  worn  out  by  a  passage  of  more 
than  two  months  before  they  reached  a  harbor  in  Newfound- 
land. There  the  disheartened  adventurers  wasted  away  from 
famine  and  misery.  In  the  extremity  of  their  distress  a  French 
ship  arrived,  "  well  furnished  with  vittails :  "  of  this  they  ob- 
tained possession  by  a  stroke  of  "policie,"  and  set  sail  for 
England.  The  French,  following  in  the  English  ship,  com- 
plained of  the  exchange,  upon  which  the  king,  out  of  his  own 
private  purse,  "  made  them  full  and  royal  recompense."  In 
1541  the  fisheries  of  "Newland"  were  favored  by  an  act  of 
parliament,  the  first  which  refers  to  America. 

The  accession  of  Edward,  in  1547,  and  the  consequent  as- 
cendency of  Protestantism,  marks  the  era  when  England  be- 
gan to  foreshadow  her  maritime  superiority.  In  the  first  year 
of  his  reign  the  council  advanced  a  hundred  pounds  for 
Cabot,  "  a  pilot,  to  come  out  of  Hispain  to  serve  and  inhabit 
in  England."  In  the  next  year  the  fisheries  of  Newfound- 
land, which  had  suffered  from  exactions  by  the  officers  of  the 
admiralty,  obtained  the  protection  of  a  special  act,  "  to  the 
intent  that  merchants  and  fishermen  might  use  the  trade  of 
fishing  freely  without  such  charges." 

In  1549  Sebastian  Cabot  was  once  more  in  England,  brought 
over  at  the  cost  of  the  exchequer ;  and,  "  for  good  service 
done  and  to  be  done,"  was  pensioned  as  grand  pilot ;  nor 
would  he  return  to  Seville,  though  his  return  was  officially 
demanded  by  the  emperor.     In  March,  1551,  a  special  reward 


62  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  v. 

was  bestowed  bj  the  king  on  "  the  great  seaman."  He  seemed 
to  set  no  special  value  on  his  discovery  of  North  America ;  to 
find  a  shorter  route  to  the  Indies  had  been  the  dream  of  his 
youth,  and  it  still  haunted  him.  He  had  vainly  tried  the 
north-west  and  the  south-west ;  he  now  advised  to  attempt  a 
passage  by  the  north-east,  and  was  made  president  of  the  com- 
pany of  merchants  who  undertook  the  search  for  it. 

In  May,  1553,  the  fleet  of  three  ships,  under  the  command 
of  Sir^Hugh  Wllloughby,  following  the  instructions  of  Cabot, 
undertook  to  reach  China  by  doubling  the  northern  promon- 
tory of  Norway.  The  admiral,  separated  from  his  companions 
in  a  storm,  was  driven  by  the  cold  in  September  to  seek  shel- 
ter in  a  Lapland  harbor.  When  search  was  made  for  him  in 
the  following  spring,  his  whole  company  had  perished  from 
cold ;  Willoughby  himself,  whose  papers  showed  that  he  had 
survived  till  January,  was  found  dead  in  his  cabin.  Richard 
Chancellor,  in  one  of  the  other  ships,  reached  the  harbor  of 
Archangel.  This  was  "  the  discovery  of  Eussia,"  and  the 
commencement  of  commerce  by  sea  with  that  empire.  A 
Spanish  writer  calls  the  result  ^*  a  discovery  of  new  Indies." 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Mary  to  the  English  throne, 
the  Emperor  Charles  Y.  again  made  an  earnest  request  that 
Cabot  might  be  sent  back  to  his  service  ;  but  the  veteran  re- 
fused to  leave  England,  where,  in  1556,  a  new  company  was 
formed  for  discovery,  of  which  he  was  a  partner  and  the 
president.  He  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age,  but  the  day  of  his 
death  is  uncertain.  The  discoverer  of  North  America  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  age.  Time  has  spared 
all  too  few  memorials  of  his  career. 

Even  the  intolerance  of  Queen  Mary  could  not  check  the 
passion  for  adventure.  The  sea  was  becoming  the  element  on 
which  English  valor  was  best  displayed ;  English  sailors  neither 
feared  the  heats  and  fevers  of  the  tropics,  nor  northern  cold. 
The  trade  to  Russia,  now  that  the  port  of  Archangel  had  been 
discovered,  proved  very  lucrative  ;  and  a  regular  and  as  yet  an 
innocent  commerce  was  carried  on  with  Africa.  The  marriage 
of  Mary  with  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  Spain,  and  the  enthu- 
siasm awakened  by  the  brilliant  reception  of  Philip  in  Lon- 
don, excited  Richard  Eden  to  gather  into  a  volume  the  history 


1554-1577.    ENGLISH   COLONIZATION  OF  AMERICA.  63 

of  the  most  memorable  maritime  expeditions.  Keligious  re- 
straints, the  thirst  for  rapid  wealth,  the  desire  of  strange  ad- 
venture, had  driven  the  boldest  spirits  of  Spain  to  the  New 
World  ;  their  deeds  had  been  commemorated  by  the  copious 
and  accurate  details  of  their  own  historians ;  and  the  English, 
through  the  alliance  of  their  sovereign  made  familiar  with  the 
Spanish  language  and  literature,  learned  to  emulate  Spanish 
success  beyond  the  ocean. 

Elizabeth,  succeeding  Mary  in  15 5*8,  seconded  the  enter- 
prise of  her  subjects.  They  were  the  more  proud  and  intracta- 
ble for  the  short  effort  to  make  England*  an  appendage  to 
Spain ;  and  the  triumph  of  Protestantism  nursed  the  spirit  of 
nationality.  England,  now  the  antagonist  of  Philip,  prepared 
to  extend  her  commerce  to  every  clime.  The  queen  strength- 
ened her  navy,  filled  her  arsenals,  and  encouraged  the  building 
of  ships  in  England  ;  she  animated  the  adventurers  to  Russia 
and  to  Africa  by  her  special  protection  ;  and  after  1574  at 
least  from  thirty  to  fifty  English  ships  came  annually  to  the 
bays  and  banks  of  Newfoundland. 

The  press  teemed  withbook8_jofjtrav^l82^^  de- 

scription so?~the  earth  ;  and  Sir  Humphrey~GiIEert,  reposing 
from  the  toils  of  war,  engaged  in  the  science  of  cosmography. 
A  well- written  argument  in  favor  of  the  possibility  of  a  north- 
western passage  was  the  fruit  of  his  industry. 

The  same  views  were  entertained  by  one  of  the  boldest 
men  who  ever  ventured  upon  the  ocean.  For  fifteen  years 
Martin^Froblsher,  an  Englishman,  well  versed  in  various  navi- 
gation, had  revolved  the  design  of  accomplishing  the  discovery 
of  the  north-western  passage,  esteeming  it  "  the  only  thing  of 
the  world  that  was  yet  left  undone,  by  which  a  notable  minde 
might  be  made  famous  and  fortunate."  Too  poor  himself  to 
provide  a  ship,  it  was  in  vain  that  he  conferred  with  friends  ; 
in  vain  he  offered  his  services  to  merchants.  After  years  of 
desire,  Dudley,  earl  of  Warwick,  liberally  promoted  his  de- 
sign. Two  small  barks  of  twenty-five  and  of  twenty  tons*, 
with  a  pinnace  of  ten  tons'  burden,  composed  the  fleet,  which 
was  to  enter  gulfs  that  none  before  him  had  visited.  As,  in 
June,  1576,  they  dropped  down  the  Thames,  Queen  Elizabeth 
waved  her  hand  in  token  of  favor.      During  a  storm  on  the 


64  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  y, 

voyage  the  pinnace  was  swallowed  up  by  the  sea ;  the  mariners 
in  the  Michael  turned  their  prow  homeward ;  but  Frobisher, 
in  a  vessel  not  much  surpassing  in  tonnage  the  barge  of  a 
man-of-war,  made  his  way,'  fearless  and  unattended,  to  the 
shores  of  Labrador.  Among  a  group  of  American  islands,  in 
the  latitude  of  sixty-three  degrees  and  eight  minutes,  he  entered 
what  seemed  to  be  a  strait  that  might  lead  to  the  Indies. 
Great  praise  is  due  to  him  for  penetrating  far  beyond  all 
former  mariners  into  the  bays  and  among  the  islands  of  this 
Meta  Incognita,  this  unknown  goal  of  discovery.  Yet  for  His 
main  purpose  his  voyage  was  a  failure. 

A  stone  which  he  h^d  brought  from  the  frozen  regions 
was  pronounced  by  the  refiners  of  London  to  contain  gold. 
The  news  excited  the  wakeful  avarice  of  the  city ;  there  were 
not  wanting  those  who  endeavored  to  purchase  of  Elizabeth  a 
lease  of  the  new  lands  where  it  had  been  found.  A  fleet  was 
immediately  fitted  out  to  procure  more  of- the  gold  rather  than 
to  make  further  search  for  the  passage  into  the  Pacific ;  and 
the  queen  now  sent  a  large  ship  of  her  own  to  join  the  expe- 
dition which  was  to  conduct*  to  infinite  opulence.  "More  men 
than  could  be  employed  volunteered  their  services.  E^ear 
the  end  of  May,  1577,  the  mariners,  having  received  the  com- 
munion, embarked  for  the  arctic  El  Dorado,  "  and  with  a 
merrie  wind  "  soon  arrived  at  the  Orkneys.  As  they  reached 
the  north-eastern  coast  of  America,  icebergs  encompassed  them 
on  every  side.  With  the  light  of  an  aljnost  perpetual  sum- 
mer's day  the  worst  perils  were  avoided.  The  fleet  did  not 
advance  so  far  as  Frobisher  alone  had  dorfcb  But  large  heaps 
of  earth  were  found,  which,  even  to  the  incredulous,  seemed 
plainly  to  contain  the  coveted  wealth ;  besides,  spiders  abound- 
ed, and  "  spiders  were  "  aficirmed  to  be  "  true  signs  of  great 
store  of  gold."  In  freighting  the  ships  with  the  supposed  ore 
and  golden  sands,  the  admiral  himself  toiled  like  a  painful 
laborer.  How  strange,  in  human  affairs,  is  the  mixture  of 
sublime  courage  and  ludicrous  mfatuation !  What  bolder 
maritime  enterprise  than,  in  that  day,  a  voyage  to  lands  lying 
north  of  Hudson  Straits !  What  folly  more  egregious  than 
to  have  gone  there  for  a  lading  of  useless  earth ! 

The  report  of  the  returning  ships  led  to  the  first  attempt 


1577-1578.    ENGLISH  COLONIZATION   OF  AMERICA.  65 

of  the  English  to  gain  a  foothold  in  America.  It  was  believed 
that  the  rich  mines  of  the  polar  regions  would  countervail  the 
charges  of  a  costly  adventure,  and,  for  the  security  of  the 
newly  discovered  lands,  soldiers  and  discreet  men  were  selected 
to  become  their  inhabitants.  A  magnificent  fleet  of  fifteen 
sail  was  assembled,  in  part  at  the  expense  of  Elizabeth,  and 
confided  to  the  command  of  Frobisher.  Sons  of  the  English 
gentry_jembaiiK^ed  -ag^yolunteers  ;  on^  hundred  persons  were 
chosen  to  form  the  colony,  which  was  to  secure  to  England  a 
country  too  inhospitable  to  produce  a  tree  or  a  shrub,  yet 
where  gold  lay  glistening  in  heaps  upon  the  surface.  Twelve 
vessels  were  to  return  immediately  with  cargoes  of  the  ore ; 
three  were  ordered  to  remain  and  aid  the  settlement.  The 
north-west  passage  was  become  of  less  consideration  ;  Asia  itself 
could  not  vie  with  the  riches  of  this  hyperborean  archipelago. 

The  fleet,  as  in  midsummer,  1578,  it  approached  the 
American  coast,  was  l)ewildered  among  icebergs.  One  vessel 
was  crushed  and  sunk,  though  the  men  on  board  were  saved. 
In  a  thick  fog  the  ships  lost  their  course,  and  came  into  the 
straits  which  have  since  been  call6d  Hudsonls,  and  which  lie 
south  of  the  imagined  fields  of  gold.  The  admiral  believed 
himself  able  to  sail  through  to  the  Pacific ;  but  his  duty  as  a 
mercantile  agent  controlled  his  desire  of  glory  as  a  navigator. 
He  struggled  to  regain  the  harbor  where  his  vessels  were 
to  be  laden,  and,  after  "  getting  in  at  one  gap  and  out  at  an- 
other," escaping  only  .by  miracle  from  hidden  rocks  and  un- 
known currents,  ice,  and  a  lee  shore,  he  at  last  succeeded. 
The  zeal  of  the  voliftiteer  colonists  had  moderated,  and  the 
disheartened  sailors  were  ready  to  inutiny.  The  plan  of  a 
settlement  was  abandoned,  and  nothing  more  was  done  than 
to  freight  the  home-bound  ships  with  a  store  of  mineral  earth, 
^^phe  historians  of  the  voyage  are  silent  about  the  disposition 
which  was  made  of  the  cargo  of  the  fieet.  The  belief  in 
regions  of  gold  among  the  Esquimaux  was  dissipated ;  but 
there  remained  a  firm  conviction  that  a  passage  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean  might  yet  be  threaded  among  the  icebergs  and  northern 
islands  of  America. 

While  Frobisher  was  thus  attempting  to  obtain  wealth  and 
fame  on  the  north-east  coast  of  America,  the  western  limits  of 


QQ  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  Vo 

the  territory  of  the  United  States  became  known.  Embark- 
ing, in  ISTTj  on  a  three  years'  voyage  in  quest  of  fortunej 
Francis Jl^ake  acquired  immense  treasures  as  a  freebooter  in 
the  Spanish  harbors  on  the  Pacific ;  and,  having  laden  his  ship 
with  spoils,  the  illustrious  corsair  gained  for  himself  an  honest 
fame  by  circumnavigating  the  globe.  But,  before  following 
in  the  path  which  the  ship  of  Magellan  had  thus  far  alone 
dared  to  pursue,  Drake  determined  to  explore  the  north-west- 
ern coast  of  America,  in  the  hope  of  discovering  the  strait 
which  connects  the  oceans.  With  this  view  he  crossed  the 
equator,  sailed  beyond  the  peninsula  of  California,  and  fol- 
lowed the  continent  to  the  latitude  of  forty-three  degrees. 
Here,  in  June,  1579,  the  cold  seemed  intolerable  to  men  who 
had  just  left  the  tropics.  Despairing  of  success,  he  retired  to 
a  harbor  in  a  milder  clime  within  the  limits  of  Mexico,  and, 
having  refitted  his  ship  and  named  the  country  ]N"ew  Albion, 
he  sailed  for  England,  through  the  seas,  of  Asia.  But  it  has 
already  been  related  that  the  Spaniards  preceded  him  by 
thirty-six  years. 

The  adventures  of  Drake  were  but  a  career  of  splendid 
>-  piracy  against  a  nation  with  which  his  sovereign  and  his 
country  professed  to  be  at  peace.  The  humble  labor  of  the 
English  fishermen  who  frequented  the  Grand  Bank  prepared 
the  way  for  settlements  of  their  countrymen  in  the  jS'ew 
World.  Already  four  hundred  vessels  came  annually  from  the 
harbors  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  of  France  and  England,  to  the 
shores  of  Newfoundland.  The  English  "  were  commonly  lords 
in  the  harbors,"  and  exacted  payment  for  protection. 

Whilfe  the  queen  and  her  adventurers  were  dazzled  by 
dreams  of  finding  gold  in  the  frozen  regions  of  the  north. 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  with  a  sounder  judgment  and  better 
knowledge,  watched  the  progress  of  the  fisheries,  and  formed' 
healthy  plans  for  colonization.  He  had  been  a  soldier  and  a 
member  of  parliament ;  had  written  judiciously  on  naviga- 
tion ;  and,  though  censured  for  his  ignorance  of  the  princi- 
ples of  liberty,  was  esteemed  for  the  sincerity  of  his  piety. 
Free  alike  from  fickleness  and  fear,  danger  never  turned  him 
aside  from  the  pursuit  of  honor  or  the  service  of  his  sov- 
ereign ;  for  he  knew  that  death  is  inevitable,  and  the  fame  of 


1.50 

1578-1583.    ENGLISH   COLONIZATION  OF  AMERICA.  67 

virtue  immortal.  It  was  not  difficult  for  him,  in  June,  1578, 
to  obtain  a  patent,  formed  according  to  commercial  theories 
of  that  day,  and  to  be  of  perpetual  efficacy,  if  a  plantation 
should  be  established  within  six  years.  To  the  people  who 
might  belong  to  his  colony  the  rights  of  Englishmen  were 
promised  ;  to  Gilbert,  the  possession  for  himself  or  his  assigns 
of  the  soil  which  he  might  discover,  and  the  sole  jurisdiction, 
both  civil  and  criminal,  of  the  territory  within  two  hundred 
leagues  of  his  settlement,  with  supreme  executive  and  legis- 
lative authority. 

Under  this  patent  Gilbert  collected  a  company  of  volun- 
teer adventurers,  contributing  largely  from  his  own  fortune 
to  the  preparation.  His  most  faithful  friend  was  his  step- 
brotheTjJWalterJMeigh.  This  is  he  who  a  few  years  before 
had  abruptly  left~the  university  of  Oxford  to  fight  for  the 
Huguenots  against  the  Catholics,  and,  with  the  prince  of  Na- 
varre, afterward  Henry  lY.,  to  learn  the  art  of  war  under 
the  veteran  Coligny  at  the  time  when  the  Protestant  party  in 
France  was  glowing  with  indignation  at  the  massacre  of  their 
colony  of  Calvinists  in  Florida. 

The  first  movement  of  Gilbert  proved  a  failure.  Jarrings 
and  divisions  had  ensued  before  the  voyage  was  begun ;  many 
abandoned  what  they  had  inconsiderately  undertaken.  In 
1579  the  general  and  a  few  of  his  assured  friends,  among 
them  Walter  Kaleigh,  put  to  sea :  one  of  his  ships  w^as  lost ; 
and  misfortune  compelled  the  remainder  to  return. 

But  the  pupil  of  Coligny  delighted  in  hazardous  adven- 
ture. To  prosecute  discoveries  in  the  'New  World,  lay  the 
foundation  of  states,  and  acquire  immense  domains,  appeared 
to  Raleigh  as  easy  designs,  which  would  not  interfere  with  the 
pursuit  of  favor  in  England.  Before  the  limit  of  the  charter 
had  expired,  Gilbert,  assisted  by  his  brother,  equipped  a  new 
squadron.  In  1583  the  fleet  embarked  under  happy  omens  ; 
the  commander,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  received  from 
Elizabeth  a  golden  anchor  guided  by  a  lady.  A  man  of  let- 
ters from  Hungary,  and  "  a  mineral-man  "  from  Saxony,  the 
land  of  miners,  accompanied  the  expedition ;  and  some  part 
of  the  United  States  would  have  been  colonized  but  for  a 
succession  of  overwhelming  disasters.     Two  days  after  leav- 


6S  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN   AMEPvICA.     part  i.;  oh.  v. 

ing  Pljmoutli,  the  largest  ship  in  the  fleet,  which  had  been 
furnished  by  Kaleigh,  who  himself  remained  in  England,  de- 
serted, under  a  pretence  of  infectious  disease,  and  returned 
into  harbor.  Gilbert,  incensed,  but  not  intimidated,  sailed  for 
!N"ewfoundland ;  and,  on  the  fifth  of  August,  entering  St. 
John's,  he  summoned  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  and 
other  strangers  to  witness  the  ceremonies  by  which  he  took 
possession  of  the  country  for  his  sovereign.  A  pillar,  on 
which  the  arms  of  England  were  infixed,  was  raised  as  a 
monument ;  and  lapds  were  granted  to  the  fishermen  in  fee, 
on  condition  of  the  payment  of  a  quit-rent.  It  was  generally 
agreed  that  "the  mountains  made  a  show  of  mineral  sub- 
stance ; "  the  "  mineral-man  "  protested  on  his  life  that  silver 
ore  abounded.  He  was  charged  to  keep  the  discovery  a  pro- 
found secret ;  and  the  precious  ore  was  carried  on  board  the 
larger  ship  with  such  mystery  that  the  dull  Portuguese  and 
Spaniards  suspected  nothing  of  the  matter. 

It  was  not  easy  for  Gilbert  to  preserve  order  in  the  little 
fleet.  Many  of  the  sailors,  infected  with  the  vices  which  in 
that  age  degraded  their  profession,  were  no  better  than  pirates, 
and  were  perpetually  bent  upon  pillaging  whatever  ships  fell 
in  their  way.  At  length,  having  abandoned  one  of  their 
barks,  the  English,  in  three  vessels  only,  sailed  on  further 
discoveries,  intending  to  visit  the  coast  of  the  United  States. 
But  they  had  not  proceeded  toward  the  south  beyond  the 
latitude  of  Wiscasset,  when,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  August, 
the  largest  ship,  from  the  carelessness  of  the  crew,  struck  and , 
was  wrecked.  N^early  a  hundred  men  perished ;  the  "  mineral- 
man  "  and  the  ore  were  all  lost ;  nor  was  it  possible  to  rescue 
Parmenius,  the  Hungarian,  who  should  have  been  the  historian 
of  the  expedition.  ^ 

It  now  seemed  necessary  to  hasten  to  England.  Gilbert 
had  sailed  in  the  Squirrel,  a  bark  of  ten  tons  only,  and  there- 
fore convenient  for  entering  harbors  and  approaching  the 
coast.  On  the  homeward  voyage  he  would  not  forsake  his 
little  company,  with  whom  he  had  encountered  so  many 
storms  and  perils.  A  desperate  resolution!  The  weather 
was  extremely  rough ;  the  oldest  mariner  had  never  seen 
"more  outrageous  seas."     The  little  frigate,  not  more  than 


1583-1584.    ENGLISH   COLONIZATION  OF  AMERICA.  69 

twice  as  large  as  the  long-boat  of  a  merchantman,  "  too  small 
a  bark  to  pass  through  the  ocean  sea  at  that  season  of  the 
year,"  was  nearly  wrecked.  That  same  night,  about  twelve 
o'clock,  its  lights  suddenly  disappeared ;  and  neither  the  ves- 
sel, nor  any  of  its  crew,  was  ever  again  seen.  Before  the  end 
of  September  the  Hind  reached  Falmouth  in  safety. 

Baleigh,  not  disheartened  by  the  sad  fate  of  his  step- 
brother, resolved  a  settlement  in  the  milder  clime  from  which 
the  Protestants  of  France  had  been  expelled.  He  readily  ob- 
tained from  Elizabeth,  in  MarchjL_1584:,  a  patent  as  ample  as 
that  which  had  been  conferred  on  Gilbert.'  It  was  drawn  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  feudal  law,  and  with  strict  regard 
to  the  Christian  faith  as  professed  in  the  church  of  England. 
Kaleigh  was  constituted  a  lord  proprietary,  with  almost  un- 
limited powers,  holding  his  territories  by  homage  and  an  in- 
considerable rent,  and  possessing  jurisdiction  over  an  extensive 
region,  of  which  he  had  power  to  make  grants  according  to 
his  pleasure. 

Expectations  rose  high,  since  the  inviting  regions  of  the 
south  were  now  to  be  colonized.  In  April  two  vessels,  well 
laden  with  men  and  provisions,  under  the  command  of  Philip 
Amidas  and  Arthur  Barlow,  buoyant  with  hope,  set  sail  for 
the  N^ew  World.  They  pursued  the  circuitous  route  by  the 
Canaries  and  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies ;  after  a  short 
stay  in  those  islands  they  sailed  for  the  north,  and  were  soon 
opposite  the  shores  of  Carolina.  As  in  July  they  drew  near 
land,  the  fragrance  was  "  as  if  they  had  been  in  the  midst  of 
some  delicate  garden,  abounding  with  all  kinds  of  odoriferous 
flowers."  Ranging  the  coast  for  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles,  they  entered  the  first  convenient  harbor,  and,  after 
thanks  to  God  for  their  safe  arrival,  they  took  possession  of 
the  country  for  the  queen  of  England. 

The  spot  on  which  this  ceremony  was  performed  was  in 
the  island  of  Wocoken,  the  southernmost  of  the  islands  form- 
ing Ocracoke  inlet.  The  air  was  agitated  by  none  but  the 
gentlest  breezes,  and  the  English  commanders  were  in  raptures 
with  the  beauty  of  the  ocean,  gemmed  with  islands,  and  seen 
in  the  magnificence  of  repose.  The  vegetation  of  that  south- 
ern latitude  struck  the  beholders  with  admiration ;  the  trees 


70  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN"  AMERICA,     past  i.  ;  ch.  t. 

had  not  their  paragons ;  luxuriant  climbers  gracefully  fes- 
tooned the  loftiest  cedars ;  wild  grapes  abounded  ;  and  natural 
arbors  formed  an  impervious  shade.  The  forests  were  filled 
with  birds  ;  and,  at  the  discharge  of  an  arquebuse,  whole 
flocks  would  arise,  uttering  a  cry  as  if  an  army  of  men  had 
shouted  together. 

The  tawny  inhabitants  of  the  land,  which  they  called  Seco- 
tan,  appeared  in  harmony  with  the  loveliness  of  the  scene. 
The  desire  of  traffic  overcame  their  timidity,  and  the  Enghsh 
received  a  friendly  welcome.  On  the  island  of  Roanoke  they 
were  entertained,  by  the  wife  of  Granganimeo,  father  of  Win- 
gina  the  king,  with  the  refinements  of  Arcadian  hospitality. 
"  The  people  were  most  gentle,  loving,  and  faithful,  void  of 
all  guile  and  treason,  and  such  as  lived  after  the  manner  of  the 
golden  age."  They  had  no  cares  but  to  guard  against  the 
moderate  cold  of  a  short  winter,  and  to  gather  such  food  as 
the  earth  almost  spontaneously  produced.  And  yet  it  was 
added,  with  singular  inconsistency,  that  their  wars  were  cruel 
and  bloody ;  and  the  English  were  solicited  to  engage  in  them 
under  promise  of  lucrative  booty. 

The  adventurers  were  satisfied  with  observing  the  general 
aspect  of  the  IS'ew  World;  Pamlico  and  Albemarle  sounds 
and  Roanoke  island  were  explored,  and  some  information 
gathered  by  inquiries  from  the  Indians;  the  commanders 
had  not  the  courage  or  the  activity  to  undertake  an  ex- 
tensive survey  of  the  country.  Having  made  but  a  short 
stay  in  America,  they  arrived  in  September  in  the  west  of 
England,  accompanied  by  Manteo  and  Wanchese,  two  na- 
tives of  the  wilderness ;  and  the  returning  voyagers  gave 
such  glowing  descriptions  of  their  discoveries  as  might  be 
expected  from  men  who  had  done  no  more  than  sail  over 
the  smooth  waters  of  a  summer's  sea,  among  "the  hun- 
dred islands "  of  North  Carolina.  Elizabeth  esteemed  her 
reign  signalized  by  the  discovery  of  the  enchanting  regions, 
and,  as  a'  memorial  of  her  state  of  life,  named  them  Yir- 
ginia. 

Kor  was  it  long  before  Raleigh,  elected  to  represent  in 
parliament  the  county  of  Devon,  obtained  a  bill  confirming 
his  patent  of  discovery ;  and  while  he  received  the  honor  of 


1684-1585.    ENGLISH   COLONIZATION   OF   AMEBIC^'  71 

(knighthood,  as  the  reward  of  his  valor,  he  acquired  a  lucrative 
monopoly  of  wines,  which  enabled  him  to  continue  his  schemes. 
The  prospect  of  becoming  the  proprietary  of  a  delightful  ter- 
ritory, with  a  numerous  tenantry,  who  should  yield  him  not 
only  a  revenue,  but  allegiance,  inflamed  his  ambition  ;  and,  as 
the  English  nation  listened  with  credulity  to  the  descriptions 
of  Amidas  and  Barlow,  it  was  not  difficult  to  gather  a  numer- 
ous company  of  emigrants.  While  a  new  patent  was  issued  to 
J^ohn^avis  for  the  discovery  of  the  north-western  passage, 
and  his  well-known  voyages,  sustained  in  part  by  the  contri- 
butions of  Raleigh  himself,  were  increasing  the  acquaintance 
of  Europe  with  the  Arctic  Sea,  the  plan  of  colonizing  Virginia 
was  earnestly  pursued. 

The  new  expedition  was  composed  of  seven  vessels,  and 
carried  one  hundred  and  eight  colonists  to  the  shores  of  Caro- 
lina. Ealph  Lane,  a  man  so  much  esteemed  as  a  soldier  that 
he  was  afterward  knighted  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  willing 
to  act  for  Ealeigh  as  governor  of  the  colony.  SiiJiichard 
Grenvijle,  the^most  able  and  celebrated  of  Raleigh's  associates, 
distinguished  for  bravery  among  the  gallant  spirits  of  a  gallant 
age,  assumed  the  command  of  the  fleet.  In  April,  1585,  it 
sailed  from  Plymouth,  accompanied  by  several  men  of  merit, 
whom  the  world  remembers :  by  Cavendish,  who  soon  after 
circumnavigated  the  globe  ;  Hariot,  the  inventor  of  the  sys- 
tem of  notation  in  modern  algebra,  the  historian  of  the  expe- 
dition ;  and  White,  an  jnff^iiious  painter,  whose  sketches  of 
the  natives,  their  habits  and  modes  of  life,  were  taken  with  >  i^ 
beauty  and  exactness.  '^ 

To  sail  by  the  Canaries  and  the  West  Indies,  to  conduct  a 
gainful  commerce  with  the  Spanish  ports  by  intimidation  ;  to 
capture  Spanish  vessels — these  were  but  the  expected  prelimi- 
naries of  a  voyage  to  Virginia.  In  June  the  fleet  fell  in  with 
the  main  land  of  Florida ;  it  was  in  great  danger  of  being 
wrecked  on  the  cape,  which  was  then  first  called  the  cape  of 
Fear ;  and  two  days  after  it  came  to  anchor  at  Wocoken.  The 
largest  ship,  as  it  entered  the  harbor,  struck,  but  was  not  lost. 
It  was  through  Ocracoke  inlet  that  the  fleet  made  its  way  to 
Roanoke. 

Manteo,  who  returned  with  the  fleet  from  a  visit  to  Eng- 


r 


72  ENGLISH   PEOT?LE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.;  ch.  v. 

land,  was  sent  to  the  mainland  to  announce  their  arrival.  Gren- 
ville,  accompanied  by  Lane,  Hariot,  Cavendish,  and  others,  in 
an  excursion  of  eight  days,  explored  the  coast  as  far  as  Seco- 
tan,  and,  as  they  relate,  were  well  entertained  of  the  savages. 
At  one  of  the  Indian  towns  a  silver  cup  had  been  stolen  ;  its 
restoration  was  delayed  ;  with  hasty  cruelty,  Grenville  ordered 
the  village  to  be  burnt  and  the  standing  corn  destroyed. 
Not  long  after  this  act  of  inconsiderate  revenge,  the  ships, 
having  landed  the  colony,  sailed  for  England  ;  a  rich  Spanish 
prize,  made  by  Grenville  on  the  way  home,  secured  him  a 
courteous  welcome  as  he  re-entered  Plymouth. 

The  employments  of  Lane  and  his  colonists,  after  the  de- 
parture of  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  could  be  none  other  than  to 
explore  the  country,  which  he  thus  describes  :  "  It  is  the  good- 
liest soil  under  the  cope  of  heaven  ;  the  most  pleasing  terri- 
tory of  the  world ;  the  continent  is  of  a  huge  and  unknown 
greatness,  and  very  well  peopled  and  towned,  though  savagely. 
The  climate  is  so  wholesome  that  we  have  not  one  sick  since 
we  touched  the  land.  If  Virginia  had  but  horses  and  kine, 
and  were  inhabited  with  English,  no  realm  in  Christendom 
were  comparable  to  it." 

The  keenest  observer  was  Hariot.  He  carefully  examined 
the  productions  of  the  country,  those  which  would  furnish 
commodities  for  commerce,  and  those  which  were  in  esteem 
among  the  natives.  He  observed  the  culture  of  tobacco,  ac- 
customed himself  to  its  use,  and  believed  in  its  healing  vir- 
tues. The  culture  and  the  extraordinary  productiveness  of 
maize  especially  attracted  his  admiration ;  and  the  tuberous 
roots  of  the  potato,  when  boiled,  were  found  to  be  very  good 
food.  The  natural  inhabitants  are  described  as  too  feeble  to 
inspire  terror ;  clothed  in  mantles  and  aprons  of  deerskins ; 
having  no  weapons  but  wooden  swords  and  bows  of  witch- 
hazel  with  arrows  of  reeds  ;  no  armor  but  targets  of  bark  and 
sticks  wickered  together  with  thread.  Their  largest  towns 
contained  but  thirty  dwellings.  The  walls  of  the  houses  were 
made  of  bark,  fastened  to  stakes ;  and  sometimes  consisted  of 
poles  fixed  upright,  one  by  another,  and  at  the  top  bent  over 
and  fastened.  But  the  great  peculiarity  of  the  Indians  con- 
sisted in  the  want  of  political  connection.     A  single  town  ^ 


y 


1585-1586.     ENGLISH   COLONIZATION  OF  AMERICA.  73 

often  constituted  a  government ;  a  collection  of  ten  or  twenty 
wigwams  might  be  an  independent  state.  The  greatest  chief 
in  the  country  could  not  muster  more  than  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred fighting  men.  The  dialect  of  each  government  seemed 
a  language  by  itself.  The  country  which  Hariot  explored  was 
on  the  boundary  of  the  Algonkin  race,  where  the  Lenni-Lenape 
tribes  melted  into  the  widely  differing  nations  of  the  south. 
Their  wars  rarely  led  them  to  the  open  battle-field ;  they  were 
accustomed  rather  to  sudden  surprises  at  daybreak  or  by  moon- 
light, to  ambushes  and  the  subtle  devices  of  cunning  false- 
hood. Destitute  of  the  arts,  they  yet  displayed  '^  excellency  of 
wit "  in  all  which  they  attempted.  To  the  credulity  of  fetich- 
ism  they  joined  an  undeveloped  conception  of  the  unity  of 
the  Divine  Power,  continued  existence  after  death,  and  retribu- 
tive justice.  The  mathematical  instruments,  the  burning-glass, 
guns,  clocks,  and  the  use  of  letters,  seemed  the  works  of  gods 
rather  than  of  men ;  and  the  English  were  reverenced  as  the 
pupils  and  favorites  of  Heaven.  In  every  town  which  Hariot 
entered  he  displayed  and  explained  the  Bible ;  the  Indians 
revered  the  volume  rather  than  its  doctrines ;  with  a  fond 
superstition,  they  embraced  the  book,  kissed  it,  and  held  it  to 
their  breasts  and  heads,  as  an  amulet.  As  the  colonists  en- 
joyed uniform  health  and  had  no  women  with  them,  there 
were  some  among  the  Indians  who  imagined  that  the  English] 
were  not  born  of  woman,  and  therefore  not  mortal ;  that  thej  ' 
were  men  of  an  old  generation,  risen  to  immortality.  The 
terrors  of  fire-arms  the  natives  could  neither  comprehend  nor 
resist ;  every  sickness  which  now  prevailed  among  them  was 
attributed  to  wounds  from  invisible  bullets,  discharged  by  un- 
seen agents  with  whom  the  air  was  supposed  to  be  peopled. 
They  prophesied  that  "  more  of  the  English  generation  would 
come,  to  kill  them  and  take  their  places." 

The  natives  desired  to  be  delivered  from  guests  by  whom 
they  feared  to  be  supplanted.  A  wily  savage  allured  them 
by  tales  that  the  river  Roanoke  gushed  from  a  rock  near  the 
Pacific ;  that  its  banks  were  inhabited  by  a  nation  skilled  in 
refining  the  rich  ore  in  which  the  country  abounded ;  that  the 
walls  of  their  city  glittered  with  pearls.  In  March,  Lane  at- 
tempted to   ascend   the   rapid   Roanoke;  and  his  followers 


74  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  v. 

would  not  return  till  their  provisions  were  exhausted,  and 
they  had  eaten  the  dogs  which  bore  them  company. 

The  Indians  had  hoped  to  destroy  the  English  by  dividing 
them ;  the  prompt  return  of  Lane  prevented  open  hostilities ; 
but  in  the  two  following  months  he  became  persuaded  that 
a  grand  alliance  was  forming  to  destroy  the  stranger^  by  a 
general  massacre.  Desiring  an  audience  of  Wingina,  the  most  / 
dreaded  of  the  native  chiefs,  Lane  and  his  attendants  were,  on  ( 
the  first  day  of  June,  readily  admitted  to  his  presence.  Im- 
mediately, and  without  any  sign  of  hostile  intentions  by  thel 
Indians,  the  watchword  was  given ;  and  the  Christians,  fallingi 
upon  the  king  and  his  principal  followers,  put  them  to  death. 

The  discoveries  of  Lane  on  the  south  extended  only  to 
Secotan,  in  the  present  county  of  Craven,  between  the  Pam- 
lico and  the  JSTeuse ;  to  the  north  they  reached  the  river  Eliza- 
beth, which  joins  the  Chesapeake  bay  at  Hampton  Roads ;  in 
the  interior,  the  Chowan  had  been  examined  beyond  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Meherrin  and  the  Nottoway  ;  the  excursion  up  the 
Roanoke  did  not  advance  beyond  the  present  village  of  Wil- 
liamstown.  The  hope  of  finding  better  harbors  at  the  north 
was  confirmed ;  and  the  bay  of  Chesapeake,  so  long  before 
discovered  by  the  Spanish,  was  first  made  known  to  the  Eng- 
lish. But,  though  the  climate  was  found  salubrious,  in  the 
island  of  Roanoke  the  men  began  to  despond;  they  had 
waited  long  for  supplies  from  England ;  they  were  sighing 
for  their  native  land;  when  early  in  June  it  was  rumored 
that  the  sea  was  white  with  the  sails  of  three-and-twenty 
ships,  and  within  three  days  Sir  Francis  Drake  anchored  his 
fleet  outside  of  Roanoke  inlet,  in  "  the  wild  road  of  their  bad 
harbor." 

Homeward  bound  from  the  West  Indies,  he  had  come  to 
visit  the  domain  of  his  friend  ;  and  readily  supplied  the  wants 
of  Lane,  giving  him  a  bark  of  seventy  tons,  pinnaces  and 
small  boats,  and  all  needed  provisions.  Above  all,  he  induced 
two  experienced  sea-captains  to  remain  and  employ  themselves 
in  more  extended  discoveries.  Everything  was  furnished  to 
complete  the  surveys  along  the  coast  and  the  rivers,  and  in 
the  last  resort,  if  sutfering  became  extreme,  to  convey  the 
emigrants  to  England. 


1581-1587.     ENGLISH  COLONIZATION   OF  AMERICA.  Y5 

At  this  time  an  unwonted  storm  suddenly  arose,  and  the 
fleet  had  no  security  but  in  standing  away  from  the  shore. 
When  the  tempest  was  over,  nothing  could  be  found  of  the 
boats  and  the  bark  which  had  been  set  apart  for  the  colony ; 
h  and  Drake  yielded  to  the  unanimous  desire  of  Lane  and  his 
11  men  to  embark  with  him  for  England.  Thus  ended  the  first  // 
actual  settlement  of  the  English  in  America.  The  exiles  of  a 
year  had  grown  familiar  with  the  favorite  amusement  of  the 
lethargic  Indians ;  and  they  introduced  into  England  the  use 
of  tobacco. 

A  few  days  after  their  departure  a  vessel  arrived,  laden 
with  all  stores  needed  by  the  infant  settlement.  It  had  been  ^ 
despatched  by  Raleigh  ;  but,  finding  "  the  paradise  of  the 
world  "  deserted,  it  could  only  return  to  England.  Another 
fortnight  had  hardly  elapsed  when  Sir  Richard  Grenville  ap-  . 
peared  off  the  coast  with  three  well-furnished  ships,  and  made 
search  for  the  departed  colony.  Unwilling  that  the  English 
should  lose  possession  of  the  country,  he  left  fifteen  men  on 
the  island  of  Roanoke. 

The  decisive  testimony  of  Hariot  to  the  excellence  of  the 
country  rendered  it  easy  to  collect  recruits  for  America. 
Raleigh,  undismayed  by  losses,  determined  to  plant  an  agri- 
cultural state ;  to  send  emigrants  with  wives  and  families, 
who  should  make  their  homes  in  the  I^ew  World ;  and,  that 
life  and  property  might  be  secured,  in  January,  1587,  hel 
granted  a  charter  for  the  settlement,  and  a  municipal  govern-  \ 
ment  for  "the  city  of  Raleigh."  John  Wliite  was  appointed 
its  governor ;  and  to  him,  with  eleven  assistants,  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  colony  was  intrusted.  Transport  ships  were 
prepared  at  the  expense  of  the  proprietary ;  "  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, the  godmother  of  Virginia,"  declined  contributing  "  to 
its  education."  Embarking  in  April,  in  July  they  arrived  on 
the  coast  of  ^orth  Carolina ;  they  were  saved  from  the  dan- 
gers of  Cape  Fear ;  and,  passing  Cape  Hatteras,  they  hastened 
to  the  isle  of  Roanoke,  to  search  for  the  handful  of  men 
whom  Grenville  had  left  there  as  a  garrison.  They  found  the 
tenements  deserted  and  overgrown  with  weeds ;  human  bones 
lay  scattered  on  the  field  where  wild  deer  were  reposing.  The 
fort  was  in  ruins.     No  vestige  of  surviving  life  appeared. 


76  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch,  v. 

The  instructions  of  Raleigh  had  designated  the  place  for 
the  new  settlement  on  the  bay  of  the  Chesapeake.  But  Fer- 
nando, the  naval  officer,  eager  to  renew  a  profitable  traffic  in 
the  West  Indies,  refused  his  assistance  in  exploring  the  coast, 
and  White  was  compelled  to  remain  on  Koanoke.  The  fort 
of  Governor  Lane,  '^with  sundry  decent  dwelling-houses," 
had  been  built  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  island  ;  it  was 
there  that  in  July  the  foundations  of  the  city  of  Raleigh  were 
laid.  The  island  is  now  almost  uninhabited ;  commerce  has 
selected  securer  harbors ;  the  intrepid  pilot  and  the  hardy 
"wrecker"  are  the  only  occupants  of  the  spot,  where  the 
inquisitive  stranger  after  more  than  two  centuries  could  still 
discern  the  ruins  of  the  fort,  round  which  the  cottages  of  the 
new  settlement  were  erected. 

Disasters  thickened.  A  tribe  of  savages  displayed  im- 
placable jealousy,  and  murdered  one  of  the  assistants.  The 
mother  and  the  kindred  of  Manteo  welcomed  the  English  to 
the  island  of  Croatan,  and  mutual  good-will  was  continued ; 
but  even  this  alliance  was  not  unclouded.  A  detachment  of 
the  English,  discovering  a  company  of  the  natives  whom  they 
esteemed  their  enemies,  fell  upon  them  by  night  as  they  were 
sitting  by  their  fires,  and  havoc  was  begun  before  it  was  per- 
\  ceived  that  these  were  friendly  Indians. 

The  vanities  of  life  were  not  forgotten ;  "  by  the  com- 
mandment of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,"  Manteo,  the  faithful  In- 
dian chief,  after  receiving  Christian  baptism,  was  invested 
with  the  rank  of  baron,  as  the  Lord  of  Roanoke. 

With  the  returning  ship  White  embarked  for  England, 
under  the  excuse  of  interceding  for  re-enforcements  and  sup- 
plies. Yet,  on  the  eighteenth  of  August,  nine  days  previous 
to  his  departure,  his  daughter,  Eleanor  Dare,  the  wife  of  one 
of  the  assistants,  gave  birth  to  a  female  child,  the  first  off- 
spring of  English  parents  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States. 
The  infant  was  named  from  the  place  of  its  birth.  The  col- 
ony, now  composed  of  eighty-nine  men,  seventeen  women, 
and  two  children,  whose  names  are  all  preserved,  might  rea- 
sonably hope  for  the  speedy  return  of  the  governor,  as  he  left 
with  them  his  daughter  and  his  grandchild,  Yirginia  Dare. 

The  further  history  of  this  plantation  is  involved  in  gloomy 


1587-1590.     ENGLISH   COLONIZATION   OF  AMERICA.  77 

uncertaintj.  The  inhabitants  of  "the  city  of  Raleigh,"  the 
emigrants  from  England  and  the  iirst-born  of  America,  await- 
ed death  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

For,  when  White  reached  England,  he  found  its  attention  \| 
absorbed  by  the  threats  of  an  invasion  from  Spain ;  and  Gren-  I' 
ville,  Raleigh,  and  Lane,  not  less  than  Frobisher,  Drake,  and 
Hawkins,  were  engaged  in  measures  of  resistance.     Yet  Ra- 
leigh, whose  patriotism  did  not  diminish  his  generosity,  found 
means,  in  April,  1588,  to  despatch  White  with  supplies  in  two) 
vessels.     But  the  company,  desiring  a  gainful  voyage  rather 
than  a  safe  one,  ran  in  chase  of  prizes,  till  one  of  them  fell  in 
with  men-of-war  from  Rochelle,  and,  after  a  bloody  fight,  was  I 
boarded  and  rifled.     Both  ships  were  compelled  to  return  to 
England.     The  delay  was  fatal :  the  English  kingdom  and  the 
Protestant  reformation  were  in  danger ;  nor  could  the  poor 
colonists  of  Roanoke  be  again  remembered  till  after  the  dis- 
comfiture of  the  Invincible  Armada. 

Even  then  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  had  already  incurred 
a  fruitless  expense  of  forty  thousand  pounds,  found  his  im- 
paired fortune  insufiicient  for  further  attempts  at  colonizing 
Virginia.  He  therefore  used  the  privilege  of  his  patent  to 
endow  a  company  of  merchants  and  adventurers  with  large  ' 
concessions.  Among  the  men  who  thus  obtained  an  assign- 
ment of  the  proprietary's  rights  in  Yirginia  is  found  the  name 
of  Richard  Hakluyt ;  it  connects  the  first  efforts  of  England 
in  ^N^orth  Carolina  with  the  final  colonization  of  Yirginia.  The 
colonists  at  Roanoke  had  emigrated  with  a  charter;  the  in- 
strument of  March,  1589,  was  not  an  assignment  of  Raleigh's 
patent,  but  the  extension  of  a  grant,  already  held  under  its 
sanction,  by  increasing  the  number  to  whom  the  rights  of 
that  charter  belonged. 

More  than  another  year  elapsed  before  White  could  return 
to  search  for  his  colony  and  his  daughter ;  and  then  the  island 
of  Roanoke  was  a  desert.  An  inscription  on  the  bark  of  a 
tree  pointed  to  Croatan ;  but  the  season  of  the  year  and  the 
dangers  from  storms  were  pleaded  as  an  excuse  for  an  imme- 
diate return.  The  conjecture  has  been  hazarded  that  the  de- 
serted colony,  r  eglected  by  their  own  countrymen,  were  hos- 
pitably adopted  into  the  tribe  of  Hatteras  Indians.     Raleigh 


78  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.;  oh.  v. 

long  cherished  the  hope  of  discovering  some  vestiges  of  their 
existence,  and  sent  at  his  own  charge,  and,  it  is  said,  at  five 
several  times,  to  search  for  his  liege-men.  But  imagination 
received  no  help  in  its  attempts  to  trace  the  fate  of  the  colony 
of  Eoanoke. 

The  name  of  Raleigh  stands  highest  among  the  statesmen 
of  England  who  advanced  the  colonization  of  the  United  States. 
Courage,  self-possession,  and  fertility  of  invention,  ensured  him 
glory  in  his  profession  of  arms ;  and  his  services  in  the  con- 
quest of  Cadiz  and  the  capture  of  Fayal  established  his  fame 
as  a  gallant  and  successful  commander. 

No  soldier  in  retirement  ever  expressed  the  charms  of  tran- 
quil leisure  more  beautifully  than  E-aleigh,  whose  "sweet 
verse"  Spenser  described  as  "sprinkled  with  nectar,"  and 
rivalling  the  melodies  of  "  the  summer's  nightingale."  When 
an  unjust  verdict  left  him  to  languish  for  years  in  prison,  with 
the  sentence  of  death  suspended  over  his  head,  he,  w^ho  had 
been  a  warrior,  a  courtier,  and  a  seaman,  in  an  elaborate  "  His- 
tory of  the  World,"  "  told  the  Greek  and  Roman  story  more 
fully  and  exactly  than  any  earlier  English  writer,  and  with  an 
eloquence  which  has  given  his  work  a  classical  reputation  in 
our  language."  In  his  civil  career  he  was  jealous  of  the  honor, 
the  prosperity,  and  the  advancement  of  his  country.  In  par- 
liament he  defended  the  freedom  of  domestic  industry.  When, 
through  unequal  legislation,  taxation  was  a  burden  upon  indus- 
try rather  than  wealth,  he  argued  for  a  change ;  himself  pos- 
sessed of  a  lucrative  monopoly,  he  gave  his  voice  for  the  repeal 
of  all  monopolies ;  he  used  his  influence  with  his  sovereign  to 
mitigate  the  severity  of  the  judgments  against  the  non-con- 
f  ormists,  and  as  a  legislator  he  resisted  the  sweeping  enactment 
of  persecuting  laws. 

In  the  career  of  discovery,  his  perseverance  was  never  baf- 
fled by  losses.  He  joined  in  the  risks  of  Gilbert's  expedition  ; 
contributed  to  that  of  Davis  in  the  north-west ;  and  explored 
in  person  "  the  insular  regions  and  broken  world  "  of  Guiana. 
His  lavish  efforts  in  colonizing  the  soil  of  our  republic,  his 
sagacity  which  enjoined  a  settlement  within  the  Chesapeake 
bay,  the  publications  of  Hariot  and  Hakluyt  which  he  coun- 
tenanced, diffused  over  England  a  knowledgi  of  America,  as 


1590-1602.     ENGLISH  COLONIZATION   OF  AMERICA.  Y9 

well  as  an  interest  in  its  destinies,  and  sowed  the  seeds,  of  which 
the  fruits  began  to  ripen  during  his  lifetime. 

Raleigh  had  suffered  in  health  before  his  last  undertaking. 
He  returned  broken-hearted  by  the  defeat  of  his  hopes,  the 
decay  of  his  strength,  and  the  death  of  his  eldest  son.  What 
shall  be  said  of  King  James,  who  would  open  to  an  aged  para- 
lytic no  hope  of  liberty  but  through  the  discovery  of  mines 
in  Guiana?  What  shall  be  said  of  a  monarch  who  could, 
under  a  sentence  which  had  slumbered  for  fifteen  years,  order 
the .  execution  of  the  decrepit  man,  whose  genius  and  valor 
shone  through  the  ravages  of  physical  decay,  and  whose  heart 
still  beat  with  an  undying  love  for  his  country  ? 

The  family  of  the  chief  author  of  early  colonization  in  the 
United  States  was  reduced  to  beggary  by  the  government  of 
England,  and  he  himself  was  beheaded.  After  a  lapse  of 
nearly  two  centuries,  the  state  of  Korth  Carolina,  in  1792,  re- 
vived in  its  capital  "  The  City  of  Raleigh,"  in  grateful  com- 
memoration of  his  name  and  fame. 

Imagination  already  saw  beyond  the  Atlantic  a  people 
whose  mother  idiom  should  be  the  language  of  England. 
"  Who  knows,"  exclaimed  Daniel,  the  poet-laureate  of  that 
kingdom — "  Who  in  time  knows  whither  we  may  vent 

The  treasures  of  our  tongue  ?     To  what  strange  shores 
This  gain  of  our  best  glory  shall  be  sent 
T'  enrich  unknowing  nations  with  our  stores  ? 
What  worlds,  in  th'  yet  unformed  Occident, 
May  'come  refined  with  th'  accents  that  are  ours." 
In  1602,  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  a  discreet  and  intrepid  navi- 
gator, who  remained  till  deafE~3evoted  to  the  English  coloniza- 
tion 01  V^irginia,  undertook  the  direct  voyage  from  the  British 
channel  to  America.     From  the  Azores,  to  which  he  was  borne 
by  contrary  vnnds,  he  ran  a  westerly  course  across  the  Atlan- 
tic, but  the  weakness  of  his  ship,  the  unsldlfulness  of  his  crew, 
and  his  caution,  from  ignorance  of  the  ocean  and  the  nearest 
land,  causing  him  to  carry  but  a  low  sail,  it  was  only  after 
seven  weeks  that  he  came  in  sight  of  Cape  Elizabeth  in  Maine. 
Following  the  coast  to  the  south-west,  he  skirted  "an   out- 
point of  wooded  land ; "  and,  about  noon  of  the  fourteenth 
of  May,  he  anchored  "  near  Savage  rock/'  to  the  east  of  York 


80  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     p^rt  i.;  ch.  v. 

harbor.  There  he  met  a  Biscay  shallop ;  and  there  he  was 
visited  by  natives.  Not  finding  his  "  purposed  place/'  he  stood 
to  the  south,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  fifteenth  discovered 
the  promontory  which  he  named  Cape  Cod.  He  and  four  of 
his  men  went  on  shore ;  Cape  Cod  was  the  first  spot  in  that 
region  ever  trod  by  Englishmen.  Doubling  the  cape,  and 
passing  ]^antucket,  they  touched  at  No  Man's  Land,  passed 
round  the  promontory  of  Gay  Head,  naming  it  Dover  Cliff, 
and  entered  Buzzard's  bay,  a  stately  sound  which  they  called 
Gosnold's  Hope.  The  westernmost  of  the  islands  was  named 
Elizabeth,  from  the  queen,  a  name  which  has  been  transferred 
to  the  group.  Here  they  beheld  the  rank  vegetation  of  a 
virgin  soil :  noble  forests ;  wild  fruits  and  flowers  bursting 
from  the  earth ;  the  eglantine,  the  thorn,  and  the  honeysuckle ; 
the  wild  pea,  the  tansy,  and  young  sassafras;  strawberries, 
raspberries,  grape-vines — all  in  profusion.  Within  a  pond 
upon  the  island  lies  a  rocky  islet ;  on  this  the  adventurers 
built  their  storehouse  and  their  fort ;  and  the  foundations  of 
a  colony  were  laid.  The  island,  the  pond,  the  islet,  remain  ; 
the  shrubs  are  luxuriant  as  of  old ;  but  the  forests  are  gone, 
and  the  ruins  of  the  fort  can  no  longer  be  discerned. 

A  traffic  with  the  natives  on  the  main  enabled  Gosnold  to 
lade  the  Concord  with  sassafras  root,  then  esteemed  in  phar- 
macy as  a  sovereign  panacea.  The  band,  which  was  to  have 
nestled  on  the  Elizabeth  islands,  despairing  of  supplies  of 
food,  and  fearing  the  Indians,  determined  not  to  remain.  In 
June  the  party  bore  for  England,  leaving  not  so  much  as  one 
European  family  between  Florida  and  Labrador.  The  return 
voyage  lasted  but  five  weeks ;  and  the  expedition  was  com- 
pleted in  less  than  four  months,  during  which  entire  health 
had  prevailed. 

Gosnold  and  his  companions  spread  the  most  favorable  re- 
ports of  the  regions  which  they  had  visited.  Could  it  be  that  the 
passage  was  so  safe,  the  climate  so  pleasant,  the  country  so  invit- 
ing? The  merchants  of  Bristol,  with  the  ready  assent  of  Ri- 
leigh,  and  at  the  instance  of  RichardllaMuyt, — the  enlightened 
friend  and  able  documentary  historian  of  these  commercial  en- 
terprises, a  man  whose  fame  should  be  vindicated  and  "asserted 
in  the  land  which  he  helped  to  colonize, — determined  to  pursue 


1602-1605.     ENGLISH   COLONIZA.TION  OF  AMERICA.  81 

the  career  of  investigation.  The  Speedwell,  a  ship  of  fifty 
tons  and  thirty  men,  the  Discoverer,  a  bark  of  twenty-six  tons 
and  thirteen  men,  under  the  command  of  Martin  Priiig,  set 
sail  for  America  on  the  tenth  of  April,  1603,  a  few  days  after 
the  death  of  the  queen.  The  ship  was  well  provided  with 
trinkets  and  merchandise,  suited  to  a  traffic  with  the  red  men, 
and  reached  the  American  shore  among  the  islands  of  Penob- 
scot bay.  Coasting  toward  the  west,  Pring  made  a  discovery 
of  many  of  the  harbors  of  Maine ;  of  the  Saco,  the  Kenne- 
bunk,  and  the  York  rivers ;  and  the  channel  of  the  Piscata- 
qua  was  examined  for  three  or  four  leagues.  Finding  no  sas- 
safras, he  steered  to  the  south,  doubled  Cape  Ann,  and  went  on 
shore  in  Massachusetts ;  but,  being  still  unsuccessful,  he  again 
pursued  a  southerly  track,  till  he  anchored  in  Old  Town  har- 
bor, on  Martha's  Yineyard.  Here  obtaining  a  freight,  he  '^ 
returned  to  England,  after  an  absence  of  about  six  months, 
which  had  been  free  from  disaster  or  danger. 

The  testimony  of  Pring  having  confirmed  the  report  of 
Gosnold,  an  expedition,  promoted  by  the  earl  of  Southamp- 
ton and  his  brother-in-law.  Lord  Arundel  of  Wardour,  was 
confided  to  George^Waymouth.  a  careful  and  vigilant  com- 
mander, who,  in  attempting  a  north-west  passage,  had  already 
explored  the  coast  of  Labrador. 

Weighing  anchor  on  Easter  Sunday,  1605,  on  the  four- 
teenth of  May  he  came  near  the  whitish,  sandy  promontory  of 
Cape  Cod.  To  escape  the  continual  shoals  in  which  he  found 
himself  embayed,  he  stood  out  to  sea,  then  turned  to  the  north, 
and  on  the  seventeenth  anchored  to  the  north  of  Monhegan 
island,  in  sight  of  hills  to  the  north-north-east  on  the  main. 
On  Whit  Sunday  he  found  his  way  among  the  St.  George's 
islands  into  an  excellent  harbor,  which  was  accessible  by  four 
passages,  defended  from  all  winds,  and  had  good  mooring  upon 
a  clay  ooze,  and  even  upon  the  rocks  by  the  cliff  side.  The 
climate  was  agreeable ;  the  sea  yielded  fish  of  many  kinds 
profusely  ;  the  tall  and  great  trees  on  the  islands  were  much 
observed ;  and  the  gum  of  the  silver  fir  was  thought  to  be  as 
fragrant  as  frankincense;  the  land  was  of  such  pleasantness 
that  many  of  the  company  wished  themselves  settled  there ; 
trade  was  carried  on  with  the  natives  for  sables,  and  skins  of    ^ 


82  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEPJCA.    paet  i.  ;  oh.  v. 

deer  and  otter  and  beaver.  Having  in  the  last  of  May  discov- 
ered in  his  pinnace  the  broad,  deep  current  of  the  St.  George's, 
on  the  eleventh  of  June,  Waymouth,  with  a  gentle  wind,  passed 
up  with  the  ship  into  that  river  for  about  eighteen  miles,  which 
were  reckoned  at  six-and-twenty,  and  "  all  consented  in  joy  "  to 
admire  its  width  of  a  half  mile  or  a  mile ;  its  verdant  borders ; 
its  gallant  and  spacious  coves ;  the  strength  of  its  tide,  which 
may  have  risen  nine  or  ten  feet,  and  was  set  down  at  eighteen 
or  twenty.  On  the  thirteenth  he  ascended  in  a  row-boat  ten 
miles  farther,  and  was  more  and  more  pleased  with  the  beauty 
of  the  fertile  ground  on  each  hand.  No  token  was  found 
that  ever  any  Christian  had  been  there  before ;  and  at  the 
point  where  the  river  trends  westward  into  the  main  he  set 
up  a  memorial  cross,  as  he  had  already  done  on  the  rocky 
shore  of  the  St.  George's  islands.  Well  satisfied  with  his  dis- 
,  coveries,  on  Sunday,  the  sixteenth  of  June,  he  sailed  for  Eng- 
land, taking  with  him  five  of  the  natives  whom  he  had  decoyed, 
to  be  instructed  in  English  and  to  serve  as  guides  to  some  fut- 
ure expedition.  At  his  coming  into  the  harbor  of  Plymouth 
he  yielded  up  three  of  the  natives  to  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges, 
the  governor  of  that  town,  whose  curiosity  was  thus  directed 
to  the  shores  of  Maine.  The  returning  voyagers  celebrated 
its  banks,  which  promised  most  profitable  fishing;  its  rude 
people,  who  were  willing  to  barter  costly  furs  for  trifles ;  the 
temperate  and  healthful  air  of  the  country,  whose  "  pleasant 
fertility  bewrayed  itself  to  be  the  garden  of  !N"ature."  But  it 
was  not  these  which  tempted  Gorges.  He  had  noticed  that  all 
navigations  of  the  English  along  the  more  southerly  American 
coast  had  failed  from  the  want  of  good  roads  and  havens; 
these  were  the  special  marks  at  which  he  levelled ;  and,  hear- 
ing of  a  region  safe  of  approach  and  abounding  in  harbors 
large  enough  to  shelter  the  ships  of  all  Christendom,  he 
aspired  to  the  noble  office  of  filling  it  with  prosperous  English 
plantations. 

Gorges  had  wealth,  rank,  and  influence.  He  readily  per- 
suaded Sir  John  Popham,  lord  chief  justice  of  England,  to 
share  his  intentions.  The  chief  justice  was  no  novice  in 
schemes  of  colonization,  having  "  labored  greatly  in  the  last 
project  touching  the  plantation  of  Munster  "  in  Ireland ;  and 


1605.  ENGLISH   COLONIZATION   OF   AMERICA.  83 

they  agreed  together  to  send  out  each  a  ship  to  begin  a  planta- 
tion in  the  region  which  Waymouth  had  explored.  Chalons, 
the  captain  employed  by  Gorges,  in  violation  of  his  instruc- 
tions, taking  the  southern  passage,  was  carried  by  the  trade- 
winds  even  to  Porto  Rico ;  and,  as  he  turned  to  the  north,  he 
was  captured  by  the  Spanish  fleet  from  Havana.  The  tall  and 
well-furnished  ship  provided  by  Popham  sailed  from  the  river 
of  Severn,  under  the  command  of  Martin  Pring.  The  able 
mariner,  now  on  his  second  voyage  to  the  west,  disappointed 
of  meeting  Chalons,  busied  himself  in  the  more  perfect  dis- 
covery of  all  the  rivers  and  harbors  along  our  north-eastern 
coast ;  and,  on  his  return,  he  made  the  most  favorable  report 
of  the  country  which  he  had  explored. 

The  daring  and  ability  of  these  pioneers  upon  the  ocean, 
who  led  the  way  to  the  colonization  of  the  United  States,  de- 
serve the  highest  admiration.  The  character  of  the  prevalent 
winds  and  currents  was  unknown.  The  possibility  of  making 
a  direct  passage  was  but  gradually  discovered.  The  imagined 
dangers  were  infinite,  the  real  dangers  from  tempests  and 
shipwreck,  famine  and  mutinies,  heat  and  cold,  diseases  known 
and  unknown,  were  incalculable.  The  ships  at  first  employed 
were  generally  of  less  than  one  hundred  tons'  burden  ;  two  of 
those  of  Columbus  were  without  a  deck ;  Frobisher  sailed  in 
a  vessel  of  but  twenty-five  tons.  Columbus  was  cast  away 
twice,  and  once  remained  for  eight  months  on  an  island,  with- 
out any  communication  wnth  the  civilized  world ;  Roberval, 
Parmenius,  Gilbert — and  how  many  others! — went  down  at 
sea ;  and  such  was  the  state  of  the  art  of  navigation  that  intre- 
pidity and  skill  were  unavailing  against  the  elements  with- 
out the  favor  of  Heaven. 


84  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  vi. 


CHAPTER  YL 

ENGLAND   PLANTS    A   NEW   NATION    IN   VIRGINIA. 

"I  SHALL  jet  live  to  see  Yirginia  an  English  nation," 
wrote  Raleigh  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  shortly  before  the  acces- 
sion of  James  1.  When  the  period  for  success  had  arrived, 
changes  in  European  politics  and  society  had  "moulded  the 
forms  of  colonization.  The  Reformation  had  broken  the 
harmony  of  religious  opinion,  and  differences  in  the  church 
began  to  constitute  the  basis  of  political  parties.  After  the 
East  Indies  had  been  reached  by  doubling  the  southern 
promontory  of  Africa,  the  great  commerce  of  the  world  was 
carried  upon  the  ocean.  The  art  of  printing  had  been  per- 
fected and  diffused ;  and  the  press  spread  intelligence  and 
multiplied  the  facilities  of  instruction.  The  feudal  institu- 
tions were  undermined  by  the  current  of  time  and  events. 
Productive  industry  had  built  up  the  fortunes  and  extended 
the  influence  of  the  middle  classes,  while  habits  of  indolence 
and  expense  had  impaired  the  estates  and  diminished  the 
power  of  the  nobility.  These  changes  produced  correspond- 
ing results  in  the  institutions  which  were  to  rise  in  America. 

A  revolution  had  equally  occurred  in  the  objects  for 
which  voyages  were  undertaken.  Columbus  sought  a  new 
passage  to  the  East  Indies.  The  passion  for  gold  next  be- 
came the  prevailing  motive.  Then  islands  and  countries  near 
the  equator  were  made  the  tropical  gardens  of  Europeans. 
At  last  the  higher  design  was  matured  :  to  plant  permanent 
Christian  colonies ;  to  establish  for  the ,  o])pressed  and  the 
enterprising  places  of  refuge  and  abode ;  to  found  states  in  a 
temperate  clime,  with  all  the  elements  of  independent  exist- 
ence. 


1606.        ENGLAND   PLANTS  A  NATION  IN   YIRGINIA.         85 

In  the  imperfect  condition  of  industry,  a  redundant  popu- 
lation had  grown  up  in  England  even  before  the  peace  with 
Spain,  which  threw  out  of  employment  the  gallant  men  who 
had  served  under  Elizabeth  by  sea  and  land,  and  left  them  no 
option  but  to  engage  as  mercenaries  in  the  quarrels  of  stran- 
gers, or  incur  the  hazards  of  "  seeking  a  New  World."  The 
minds  of  many  persons  of  intelligence  and' rank  were  directed 
to  Virginia.  The  brave  and  ingenious  Gosnold,  who  had  him* 
self  witnessed  the  fertility  of  the  western  soil,  after  long  solici- 
tations, prevailed  with  Edward  Maria  Wingfield,  a  merchant 
of  the  west  of  England,  Kobert  Hunt,  a  clergyman  of  fortitude 
and  modest  worth,  and  Captain  John  Smith,  an  adventurer 
of  indomitable  perseverance,  to  risk  their  hopes  of  fortune  in 
an  expedition.  For  more  than  a  year  this  little  company 
revolved  their  project.  Nor  had  the  assigns  of  Ealeigh  be- 
come indifferent  to  "western  planting,''  which  the  most 
distinguished  of  them  all,  "  indust.-ious  Hakluyt,"  StiU  pro- 
moted by  his  personal  exertions,  his  weight  of  character,  and 
his  invincible  zeal.  Possessed  of  whatever  information  could 
be  derived  from  foreign  sources  and  a  correspondence  with 
eminent  navigator's  of  his  times,  and  anxiously  watching  the 
progress  of  Englishmen  in  the  west,  his  extensive  knowledge 
made  him  a  counsellor  in  colonial  enterprise. 

With  these  are  to  be  named  George  Popham,  a  kinsman 
of  the  chief  justice,  and  Raleigh  Gilbert.  They  and  "  certain 
knights,  gentlemen,  merchants,  and  other  adventurers  of  the 
city  of  London  and  elsewhere,"  and  "  of  the  cities  of  Bristol 
and  Exeter,  and  of  the  town  of  Plymouth  and  other  places  in 
the  west,"  applied  to  James.  J.  for  "  his  license  to  deduce  a 
colony  into  Yirginia."  'The  king,  alike  from  vanity,  the  wish 
to  promote  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  ambition 
of  acquiring  new  dominions,  entered  heartily  into  the  great 
design.  From  the*' coast  of  Yirginia  and  America"  he  se- 
lected a  territory  of  ten  degrees  of  latitude,  reaching  from  the 
thirty-fourth  to  the  forty-fifth  parallel,  and  into  the  backwoods 
without  bound.  For  the  purposes  of  colonization,  he  divided 
the  almost  limitless  region  equally  between  the  two  rival  com- 
panies of  London  and  of  the  West.  The  London  .company 
were  to  lead  forth  th.e  "  Fisst  Colony  of  Yieginia  "  to  lai  - 1 


fW)  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA. 


PAET   I.  ;    OH.    XL, 


south  of  the  thirtj-eightli  degree ;  and  north  of  the  forty-first 
parallel  the  Western  company  was  to  plant  what  the  king 
called  "  The  Second  Colony  of  Yikginia."  The  three  inter- 
mediate degrees  were  reserved  for  the  eventual  competition  of 
the  two  companies,  except  that  each  was  to  possess  the  soil 
extending  fifty  miles  north  and  south  of  its  first  settlem.ent. 
,  The  conditions  of  tenure  were  homage  and  rent ;  the  rent  was 
no  other  than  one  fifth  of  the  net  produce  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  one  fifteenth  of  copper.  The  right  of  coining  money  was 
conceded.  The  natives,  it  was  hoped,  would  receive  Chris- 
tianity and  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  The  general  superintend- 
ence was  confided  to  a  council  in  England ;  the  local  admin- 
istration of  each  colony  to  a  resident  council.  The  members 
of  the  superior  council  in  England  were  appointed  exclusively 
by  the  king,  and  were  to  hold  office  at  his  good  pleasure. 
Their  authority  extended  to  both  colonies,  which  jointly  took 
the  na,ijie  of  Yieginia.  Each  of  the  two  was  to  have  its  own 
resident  council,  of  which  the  members  were  from  time  to 
time  to  be  ordained  and  removed  according  to  the  instractions 
of  the  king.  To  the  king,  moreover,  was  reserved  supreme 
legislative  authority  over  the  several  colonies,  extending  to 
their  general  condition  and  the  most  minute  regulation  of 
their  affairs.  A  duty  of  five  per  cent,  to  be  levied  within 
their  precincts,  on  the  traffic  of  strangers  not  owing  obeisance 
to  the  British  crown,  was,  for  one-and-twenty  years,  to  be 
wholly  employed  for  the  benefit  of  the  several  plantations ;  at 
the  end  of  that  time  was  to  be  taken  for  the  king.  To  the 
emigrants  it  was  promised  that  they  and  their  children  should 
continue  to  be  Englishmen. 

The  charter  for  colonizing  the  great  central  territory  of 
the  North  American  continent,  which  was  to  be  the  chosen 
abode  of  liberty,  gave  to  the  mercantile  corporation  nothing 
but  a  wilderness,  with  the  right  of  peopling  and  defending  it. 
By  an  extension  of  the  prerogative,  which  was  in  itself  illegal, 
the  monarch  assumed  absolute  legislative  as  well  as  executive 
powers.  The  emigrants  were  subj^ected  to  the  ordinances  of  a 
commercial  corporation,  in  which  they  could  not  act  as  mem- 
bers; to  the  dominion  of  a  domestic  council,  in  appointing 
which  they  had  no  voice ;  to  the  control  of  a  superior  council 


1606-1607.   ENGLAND  PLANTS  A  NATION  JN  YIRGiVi 

in  England;  and,  finally,  to  the  arbitrary  legislation  ot  he 
sovereign.  The  first  '^  treasurer  "  or  governor  of  the  Londoi. 
company,  to  whom  fell  the  chief  management  of  its  affairs, 
was  Sir  Thoma,s_Smythe,  a  merchant  zealous  for  extending 
the  commerce  of  his  country,  and  equally  zealous  for  asserting 
the  authority  of  the  corporation. 

The  summer  was  spent  in  preparations  for  planting  the 
first  colony,  for  which  the  king  found  a  grateful  occupation  in 
framing  a  code  of  laws.  The  superior  council  in  England  was 
permitted  to  name  the  colonial  council,  which  was  independent 
of  the  emigrants,  and  hkd  power  to  elect  or  remove  its  presi- 
dent, to  remove  any  of  its  members,  and  to  supply  its  own. 
vacancies.  Not  an  element  of  popular  liberty  or  control  was 
introduced.  Religion  was  established  according  to  the  doc- 
trine and  rites  of  the  church  within  the  realm ;  and  no  emi- 
grant might  avow  dissent,  or  affect  the  superstitions  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  or  withdraw  his  allegiance  from  King  James. 
Lands  were  to  descend  according  to  the  laws  of  England. 
Not  only  murder,  manslaughter,  and  adultery,  but  dangerous 
tumults  and  seditions,  were  punishable  by  death,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  magistrate,  restricted  only  by  the  trial  by  jury.  All 
civil  causes,  requiring  corporal  punishment,  fine,  or  imprison- 
ment, might  be  summarily  determined  by  the  president  and 
council,  who  possessed  legislative  authority  in  cases  not  affect- 
ing life  or  limb.  Kindness  to  the  savages  was  enjoined,  with 
the  use  of  all  proper  means  for  their  conversion.  It  was  further 
ordered  that  the  industry  and  commerce  of  the  several  colonies 
should,  for  five  years  at  least,  be  conducted  in  a  joint  stock. 

The  council  of  the  English  company  added  instructions  to 
the  emigrants  to  search  for  navigable  rivers,  and,  if  any  of 
them  had  two  branches,  to  ascend  that  which  tended  most 
toward  the  north-west  to  its  sources,  and  seek  for  some 
stream  running  the  contrary  way  toward  the  South  sea. 
Then,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  six,  one  hundred 
and  nine  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  American  conti- 
nent by  Cabot,  forty-one  years  from  the  settlement  of  Flori- 
da, tlie  squadron  of  three  vessels,  the  largest  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  tons'  burden,  with  the   favor   of  all  England, 


88  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  vi. 

stretched  their  sails  for  "  the  dear  strand  of  Yirginia,  earth's 
only  paradise."  Michael  Drayton,  the  patriot  poet  "  of  Albi- 
on's glorious  isle,"  cheered  them  on,  saying  : 

Go,  and  in  regions  far  such  heroes  bring  ye  forth 
As  those  from  whom  we  came ;  and  plant  our  name 

Under  that  star  not  known  unto  our  north. 

Yet  the  enterprise  was  ill  concerted.  Of  the  one  hundred 
and  five  on  the  list  of  emigrants,  there  were  but  twelve  labor- 
ers, and  few  mechanics.  They  were  going  to  a  wilderness,  in 
which,  as  yet,  not  a  house  was  standing ;  and  there  were  forty- 
eight  gentlemen  to  four  carpenters.  IJ'^either  were  there  any 
men  with  families. 

Newport,  who  commanded  the  ships.  Was  acquainted  with 
the  old  passage,  and  sailed  by  way  of  the  Canaries  and  the 
West  India  islands.  As  he  turned  to  the  north,^  severe 
storm,  in  April,  160Y,  carried  his  fleet  beyond  the  settlement 
of  Raleigh,  into  the  magnificent  bay  of  the  Chesapeake.  The 
headlands  received  and  retain  the  names  of  Cape  Henry  and 
Cape  Charles,  from  the  sons  of  King  James ;  the  deep  water 
for  anchorage,  "  putting  the  emigrants  in  good  Comfort,"  gave 
a  name  to  the  northern  Point ;  and  within  the  capes  a  country 
opened,  which  appeared  to  "  claim  the  prerogative  over  the 
most  pleasant  places  in  the  world."  "Heaven  and  earth 
seemed  never  to  have  agreed  better  to  frame  a  place  for  man's 
commodious  and  delightful  habitation."  A  noble  river  was 
soon  entered,  which  was  named  from  the  monarch  ;  and,  after 
a  search  of  seventeen  days,  during  which  the  comers  encoun- 
tered the  hostilit;)^  of  one  savage  tribe,  and  at  Ham|)ton  smoked 
the  calumet  of  peace  with  another,  on  the  thirteenth  of  May 
they  reached  a  peninsula  about  fifty  miles  above  the  mouth 
of  the  stream,  where  the  water  near  the  shore  was  so  very  deep 
that  the  ships  were  moored  to  trees.  Here  the  council,  except 
Smith,  who  for  no  reason  unless  it  were  jealousy  of  his  su- 
perior energy  was  for  nearly  a  month  kept  out  of  his  seat, 
took  the  oath  of  office,  and  the  majority  elected  Edward  Maria 
"Wingfield  president  for  the  coming  year.  Contrary  to  the 
earnest  and  persistent  advice  of  ^Bartholomew  Gosnold.  *\\e 
peninsula  was  selected  for  the  site  of  the  colony,  and  took  the 
name  of  Jamestown, 


1607.    EN(;LAND  plants  a  new  nation  in  VIRGINIA.     89 

While  the  men  toiled  in  felling  trees  to  make  room  for 
their  tents,  and  in  gathering  freight  for  the  two  ships  which 
were  soon  to  return  to  England,  Newport,  Smith,  and  twenty 
others  ascended  the  river,  with  a  perfect  resolution  not  to  re- 
turn till  they  should  have  found  its  head  and  a  passage  through 
the  mountains  to  the  western  ocean.  Trading  on  their  way 
with  the  riparian  tribes,  they  were  soon  arrested  by  the  falls 
of  the  river,  below  which  they  were  hospitably  entertained  by 
the  great  chief  of  the  country.  They  examined  the  cataract 
to  find  a  mode  of  passing  around  it,  but  ''  the  water  falleth 
so  rudely  and  with  such  violence  not  any  boat  could  possibly 
pass  them."  The  next  day  in  idle  admiration  they  gazed  upon 
the  scene,  while  Newport  erected  a  cross  with  the  inscription, 
*' James  the  king,  1607,"  and  proclaimed  him  to  have  most 
right  unto  the  river.  They  were  again  at  Jamestown  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  May. 

During  their  absence  the  Indians  had  shown  a  hostile  dis- 
position. Captain  Newport  set  things  in  order,  made  peace 
with  one  of  the  neighboring  chiefs,  and  completed  the  pali- 
sado  around  the  fort.  On  the  twenty-first  of  June,  in  a 
church  which  consisted  only  of  a  sail  spread  from  tree  to 
tree  to  keep  off  the  midsummer  sun,  with  rails  for  walls  and 
logs  for  benches,  the  communion  was  administered,  and  on 
the  next  day  he  embarked  for  England,  leaving  behind  him  a 
colony  of  one  hundred  and  four  persons,  reported  to  be  "  in 
good  health  and  comfort." 

Meantime  the  adventurers  of  the  west  of  England  had 
w^holly  disconnected  themselves  from  the  London  company  by 
obtaining  for  the  superintendence  of  their  affairs  a  separate 
council  resident  in  the  kingdom,  and  had  completed  their  ar- 
rangements for  the  colonization  of  the  northern  part  of  Yir- 
ginia. 

Five  months  after  the  departure  of  the  southern  colony, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  passengers  sailed  as  planters  from 
Plymouth  in  the  Mary  and  John,  with  Raleigh  Gilbert  for 
its  captain,  and  in  the  Gift  of  God,  a  fly  IBoat  commanded  by 
a  kinsman  of  the  chief  justice,  George  Popham,  who  was 
"  well  strickened  in  years  and  infirm,  yet  willing  to  die  in  act- 
ing something  that  might  be  serviceable  to  God  and  honorable 

yOL.  I. — 8 


90  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  vi. 

to  his  country."  The  corps  with  which  they  went  forth,  to 
plant  the  English  monarchy  and  the  English  church  in  that  part 
of  Virginia  which  lay  north  of  the  forty-first  parallel,  was  more 
numerous  and  more  carefully  chosen  than  that  of  their  rivals. 

After  a  voyage  of  two  months,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  last 
day  of  July,  they  stood  in  for  the  shore,  and  found  shelter 
under  Monhegan  island.  Their  first  discovery  was  that  the 
fighermen  of  France  and  Spain  had  been  there  before  them. 
They  had  not  ridden  at  anchor  two  hours  when  a  party  of  In- 
dians in  a  Spanish  shallop  came  to  them  from  the  shore  and 
rowed  about  them ;  and  the  next  day  returned  in  a  Biscay 
boat  with  women,  bringing  beaver-skins  to  exchange  for  knives 
and  beads.  In  the  following  days  the  emigrants  explored  the 
coast  and  islands,  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  August  both  ships 
entered  the  Kennebec. 

On  the  nineteenth  all  the  members  of  this  "second  colony 
of  Yirginia  "  went  on  shore,  made  choice  of  the  Sabine  penin- 
sula, near  the  mouth  of  that  river,  for  the  site  of  their  fort, 
and  "  had  a  sermon  delivered  unto  them  by  their  preacher." 
After  the  sermon  they  listened  to  the  reading  of  the  commis- 
sion of  George  Popham,  their  president,  and  of  the  laws  ap- 
pointed for  them  by  King  James.  Five  men  were  sworn  assist- 
ants. Without  delay,  most  of  the  company,  under  the  over- 
sight of  the  president,  labored  hard  on  a  fort  which  they  named 
St.  George,  a  storehouse,  fifty  rude  cabins  for  their  own  shel- 
ter, and  a  church.  The  shipwrights  set  about  the  building  of 
a  small  pinnace,  the  chief  shipwright  being  one  Digby,  the  first 
constructor  of  sea-going  craft  in  that  region.  Meantime  Gil- 
bert coasted  toward  the  west,  judged  the  land  to  be  exceeding 
fertile,  and  brought  back  the  news  of  the  beauty  of  Casco  bay 
with  its  hundreds  of  isles.  "When,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
mighty  Indian  chief  who  ruled  on  the  Penobscot,  Gilbert  would 
have  visited  that  river,  he  was  driven  back  by  foul  weather 
and  cross  winds.  Pemaining  faithfully  in  the  colony,  in 
December  he  sent  back  his  ship  under  another  commander, 
who  bore  letters  announcing  to  the  chief  justice  the  for- 
wardness of  the  plantation,  and  importuning  supplies  for  the 
coming  year.  A  letter  from  President  Popham  informed  King 
James  that  his  praises  and  his  virtues  had  been  proclaimed  to 


1607.  ENGLAND  PLAnTS   A  NATION  INVIRGINIA.  91 

1 
the  natives ;  that  the  country  produced  fruits  resembling  spices, 

as  well  as  timber  of  pine ;  and  that  it  lay  hard  by  the  great 

highway  to  China  over  the  southern  ocean. 

The  winter  proved  to  be  intensely  cold ;  no  mines  were 
discovered ;  the  natives,  at  first  most  friendly,  grew  restless ; 
the  storehouse  caught  fire  and  a  part  of  the  provisions  of  the 
colony  was  consumed ;  the  president  found  his  grave  on  Ameri- 
can soil,  "the  only  one  of  the  company  that  died  there.  To  the 
despair  of  the  planters,  the  ship  which  revisited  the  settlement 
with  supplies  brought  news  of  the  death  of  the  chief  justice, 
who  had  been  the  stay  of  the  enterprise,  and  Gilbert,  who 
had  succeeded  to  the  command  at, St.  George,  had,  by  the  de- 
cease of  his  brother,  become  heir^to~an  estate  in  England 
which  required  his  presence.  So,  notwithstanding  all  things 
were  in  good  forwardness,  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians  pros- 
perous, and  a  store  of  sarsaparilla  gathered,  "all  former  hopes 
were  frozen  to  death,"  and  nothing  was  thought  of  but  to  quit 
the  place.  Wherefore  in  the  ship  which  had  lately  arrived, 
and  in  the  Virginia,  their  own  new  pinnace,  they  all  set  sail 
for  England.  So  ended  "the  second  colony  of  Yirginia." 
The  colonists  "did  coyne  many  excuses  "  for  their  going  back  ; 
but  the  Western  company  was  dissatisfied ;  Gorges  esteemed 
it  a  weakness  to  be  frightened  at  a  blast.  Three  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  French  had  hutted  themselves  at  Port  Royal ; 
and  the  ships  which  carried  the  English  from  the  Kennebec 
were  on  the  ocean  at  the  same  time  with  the  outward-bound 
squadron  of  those  who  in  that  summer  built  Quebec. 

The  first  colony  of  Yirginia  was  suffering  under  far  more 
disastrous  trials.  Scarcely  had  Newport,  in  June,  1607, 
weighed~ anchor  for  home  than  the  English  whom  he  left 
behind  stood  face  to  face  with  misery.  They  were  few  in 
numbers,  ignorant  of  the  methods  of  industry,  without  any 
elements  of  union,  and  surrounded  by  distrustful  and  hostile 
natives.  _^ 

The  air  which  they  breathed  was  unwholesome  with  the 
exhalations  from  steaming  marshes ;  their  drink  was  the  brack- 
ish water  of  the  river ;  their  food  was  a  scant  daily  allowance 
of  porridge  made  of  barley  which  had  been  spoiled  on  the 
long  voyage  from  England.     They  had  no  houses  to  cover 


92  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN       ^i^IO.  .    pabt  i.  ;  oh.  vi. 

them;  their  tents  were  rotten,  .f-,  ancioo  Q  weakened  bj  con- 
tinual labor  at  the  defences  in  the  v  .cv  of  the  heat;  and 
thej  watched  by  turns  every  thira  iiight,  lying  on  the  cold 
bare  ground,  what  weather  soever  came.  It  made  the  heart 
bleed  to  hear  the  pitiful  murmurings  and  outcries  of  sick  men 
without  relief,  night  and  day,  for  six  weeks ;  and  sometimes 
three  or  four  died  in  a  night.  Fifty  men,  one  half  of  the  col- 
ony, perished  before  autumn ;  among  them  Bartholomew 
Gosnold,  a  man  of  rare  merit,  worthy  of  perpetual  memory  in 
the  plantation. 

Incessant  broils  heightened  the  confusion.  The  only  effi- 
cient member  of  the  government  was  Smith,  who  went  up 
and  down  the  river  trading  with  the  natives  for  corn,  which 
brought  relief  to  the  colony.  "Wingfield,  the  president,  gave 
offence  by  caring  too  much  for  his  own  comfort ;  and,  being 
wholly  inefficient,  was,  on  the  tenth  of  September,  by  general 
consent,  deposed.  The  faint-hearted  man,  so  he  records  of 
himself,  offered  a  hundred  pounds  toward  fetching  home  the 
emigrants  if  the  plan  of  a  colony  should  be  given  over.  The 
office  of  president  fell  to  John  Katcliffe  from  his  place  in  the 
council,  but  he  proved  a  passionate  man,  without  capacity  to 
rule  himself,  and  still  less  to  rule  others.  Of  the  only  three 
remaining  councillors,  one  was  deposed,  and  afterward  shot  to 
death  for  mutiny ;  another  was  an  invalid,  and  there  was  no  one 
left  to  guide  in  action  but  Smith,  whose  buoyant  spirit  alone 
inspired  confidence.  In  boyhood,  such  is  his  own  narrative,  he 
had  sought  for  the  opportunity  of  "  setting  out  on  brave  adven- 
tures ; "  and,  though  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age,  he  was  already 
famed  for  various  service  in  foreign  wars.  On  regaining  Eng- 
land, his  mind  was  wholly  mastered  by  the  general  enthusiasm 
for  planting  states  in  America ;  and  now  the  infant  com- 
monwealth of  Yirginia  depended  for  its  life  on  his  firmness. 
For  the  time  he  was  the  cape  merchant  or  treasurer,  as  well  as 
the  only  active  councillor.  His  first  thought  was  to  complete 
the  building  of  Jamestown,  and,  setting  the  example  of  dili- 
gent labor,  he  pushed  on  the  construction  of  houses  with  suc- 
cess. He  next  renewed  trade  with  the  natives,  and  was  most 
successful  in  his  expeditions  for  the  purchase  of  corn.  On  the 
approach  of  winter,  when  he  had  defeated  a  proposal  to  let 


1607-1608.   ENGLA.ND  PLANTS  A  NATION  IN  VIRGINIA.     93 

the  pinnace  go  fo**^  '  ^^^(^4  «id  when  the  fear  of  famine  was 
removed  by  good  ^l^  >>'from  the  Indian  harvest  of  maize 
and  by  the  abundance*  o^  game,  he  began  the  exploration  of 
the  country.  Ascending  the  Chickahominy  as  far  as  it  was 
navigable  in  a  barge,  he  then,  witli  two  red  men  as  guides  and 
two  of  his  own  company,  proceeded  twelve  miles:  further ; 
but,  while  with  one  Indian  he  went  on  shore  to  examine  the 
nature  of  the  soil  and  the  bendings  of  the  stream,  his  two 
companions  were  killed,  and  he  himself  was  surrounded  in  the 
wilderness  by  so  many  warriors  that  he  cast  himself  upon  their 
mercy. 

The  leader  of  his  captors  Avas  Opechancanough,  a  brother 
and  subordinate  of  Powhatan,  the  great  chieftain  of  all  the 
neighborhood.  He  knew  the  rank  of  the  prisoner,  "  used  him 
with  kindness,"  and  sent  his  letters  to  the  English  fort ;  and 
from  the  villages  on  the  Chickahominy  the  Virginia  council- 
lor was  escorted  through  Indian  towns  to  an  audience  with 
Powhatan,  who  chanced  to  be  on  what  is  now  York  river. 
The  "  emperor,"  studded  witli  ornaments,  and  clad  in  raccoon 
skins,  showed  a  grave  and  majestical  countenance  as  he  wel- 
comed him  with  good  words  and  "  great  platters  of  sundrie  " 
food,  and  gave  assurance  of  friendship.  After  a  few  days, 
which  Smith  diligently  used  in  inquiries  respecting  the  coun- 
try, especially  the  waters  to  the  north-west,  he  was,  early  in 
January,  1608,  sent  home,  attended  by  four  men,  of  whom  two 
were  laden  with  maize. 

The  first  printed  "  INTewes  from  Virginia  "  spread  abroad 
these  adventures  of  Smith;  and  they  made  known  to  Eng- 
lish readers  the  name  of  Pocahontas,  the  daughter  of  Pow- 
hatan, a  child  "of  tenne,"  or  more  probably  of  twelve  "years 
old,  who  not  only  for  feature,  countenance,  and  expression, 
much  exceeded  any  of  the  rest  of  his  people,  but  for  wit  and 
spirit  was  the  only  nonpareil  of  the  country."  The  captivity 
of  the  bold  explorer  became  a  benefit  to  the  colony ;  for  he 
not  only  observed  with  care  the  country  between  the  elames 
and  the  Potomac  and  gained  some  knowledge  of  the  language 
and  manners  of  the  natives,  but  he  established  a  peaceful  in- 
tercourse between  the  English  and  the'  tribes  of  Powhatan. 
The  child,  to  whom  in  later  days  he  attributed  his  rescue  from 


94  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEPJOA.    paet  l  ;  oh.  vi. 

death,  visited  the  fort  with  companions,  bringing  baskets  of 
corn. 

Restored  to  Jamestown  after  an  absence  of  but  four  weeks, 
Smith  found  the  colony  reduced  to  forty  men ;  and,  of  these, 
the  strongest  were  preparing  to  escape  with  the  pinnace. 
This  attempt  at  desertion  he  repressed  at  the  hazard  of  his 
life. 

Meantime  the  council  in  England,  having  received  an  in- 
crease of  its  numbers  and  its  powers,  determined  to  send  out 
recruits  and  supplies ;  and  Newport  had  hardly  returned  from 
his  first  voyage  before  he  was  again  despatched  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty  emigrants.  Yet  the  joy  in  Virginia  on 
their  arrival  in  April  was  of  short  continuance ;  for  the  new 
comers  were  chiefly  gentlemen  and  goldsmiths,  who  soon  per- 
suaded themselves  that  they  had  discovered  grains  of  gold  in 
a  glittering  soil  which  abounded  near  Jamestown ;  and  "  there 
was  now  no  talk,  no  hope,  no  work,  but^ig  gold,  wash  gold, 
refine  gold,  load  gold."  Martin,  one  of  the  council,  promised 
himself  honors  in  England  as  the  discoverer  of  a  mine ;  and 
Newport  believed  himself  rich,  as  in  April  he  embarked  for 
England  with  a  freight  of  worthless  earth. 

Disgusted  at  the  follies  which  he  vainly  opposed,  Smith 
undertook  the  perilous  and  honorable  office  of  exploring  the 
bay  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  the  rivers  which  it  receives. 
Two  voyages,  in  an  open  boat,  with  a  few  companions,  over 
whom  his  superior  courage,  rather  than  his  station  as  a  magis- 
trate, gave  him  authority,  occupied  him  about  three  months 
of  the  summer.  With  slender  means,  but  with  persistency  and 
skill,  he  surveyed  the  bay  to  the  Susguehanna,  and  left  only 
the  borders  of  that  remote  river  to  remain  for  some  years 
longer  the  fabled  dwelling-place  of  a  giant  progeny.  He 
was  the  first  to  publish  to  the  English  the  power  of  the 
Mohawks,  "who  dwelt  upon  a  great  water,  and  had  many 
boats,  and  many  men,"  and,  as  it  seemed  to  the  feebler  Algon- 
kin  tribes,  "  made  war  upon  all  the  world ; "  in  the  Chesa- 
peake he  encountered  a  fleet  of  their  canoes.  The^Patapsco 
was  discovered  and  explored,  and  Smith  probably  entered  the 
harbor  of  Baltimore.  The  Potomac  especially  invited  curi- 
osity ;  and  he  ascended  to  its  lower  falls.     Nor  did  he  merely 


1608-1609.   ENGLAND  PLANTS  A  NATION  IN  VIRGINIA.     95 

examine  the  rivers  and  inlets.  He  penetrated  the  territories, 
and  laid  the  foundation  for  beneficial  intercourse  with  the 
native  tribes.  The  map  which  he  prepared  and  sent  to  the 
company  in  London  delineates  correctly  the  great  outlines 
of  nature.  The  expedition  was  worthy  the  romantic  age  of 
American  history ;  he  had  entered  upon  it  in  the  beginning 
of  June,  and  had  pursued  the  discovery  with  inflexible  con- 
stancy, except  for  three  days  in  July,  when  at  Jamestown  Rat- 
cliff  e,  for  his  pride  and  cruelty,  was  deposed.  The  government 
would  then  have  devolved  on  Smith ;  but  he  substituted  for 
the  time  "  his  good  friend  Matthew  Scrivener,"  a  new  council- 
lor, who  had  come  over  but  a  few  months  before. 

On  the  tenth  of  September,  1608,  three  days  after  his 
return  from  his  discoveries.  Smith  was  formally  constituted 
president  of  the  council.  Order  and  industry  began  to  be 
established,  when  J^ewport  entered  the  river  with  about 
seventy  new  emigrants,  of  whom  two  were  women,  y 

The  London  company  had  grown  exceedingly  impatient 
at  receiving  no  returns  for  its  outlays.  Of  themselves  they 
were  helpless  in  counsel,  without  rational  plans,  looking 
vaguely  for  a  mine  of  gold,  or  a  short  route  to  India,  and 
listening  too  favorably  to  the  advice  of  ]Srewport.  By  their 
orders  a  great  company  proceeded  to  York  river  to  go  through 
the  senseless  ceremony  of  crowning  Powhatan  as  emperor  of 
that  country.  A  boat  in  five  parts  was  sent  over  from  Eng- 
land, to  be  borne  above  the  falls,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  the 
waters  which  flow  to  the  South  sea,  or  by  some  chance  of  find- 
ing a  mine  of  gold.  For  several  weeks  the  store  of  provisions 
and  the  labor  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  best  men  that 
could  be  chosen  were  wasted  in  examining  James  river  above 
the  falls. 

A  few  Germans  and  Poles  were  sent  over  to  make  pitch, 
tar,  soap  ashes,  and  glass,  when  the  colony  could  not  yet  raise 
provisions  enough  for  its  support.  "  When  you  send  again," 
Smith  was  obliged  to  reply,  "  I  entreat  you  rather  send  but 
thirty  carpenters,  husbandmen,  gardeners,  fishermen,  black- 
smiths, masons,  and  diggers  up  of  trees'  roots,  well  provided, 
than  a  thousand  of  such  as  we  have." 

The  charge  of  the  voyage  of  N^ewport  was  more  than  two 


96  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  yi. 

thousand  pounds  ;  unless  the  ships  should  return  full  freighted 
with  commodities,  corresponding  in  value  to  the  costs  of  the 
adventure,  the  colonists  were  threatened  with  being  "  left  in 
Yirginia  as  banished  men."  "  We  have  not  received  the  value 
of  one  hundred  pounds,"  answered  Smith.  "  From  toiling  to 
satisfy  the  desire  of  present  profit,  we  can  scarce  ever  recover 
ourselves  from  one  supply  to  another.  These  causes  stand  in 
the  way  of  laying  in  Yirginia  a  proper  foundation ;  as  yet, 
you  must  not  look  for  any  profitable  returning." 

After  the  long  delayed  departure  of  the  ships,  the  first  care 
of  Smith  was  to  obtain  supplies  for  the  colony  from  the  In- 
dians. In  the  spring  of  1610  he  introduced  the  culture  of 
maize,  which  was  taught  by  two  savages,  and  thirty  or  forty 
acres  were  "  digged  and  planted."  Authority  was  employed 
to  enforce  industry ;  he  who  would  not  work  might  not  eat, 
and  six  hours  in  the  day  were  spent  in  toil.  The  gentlemen 
learned  the  use  of  the  axe,  and  became  excellent  wood-cutters. 
Jamestown  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  regular  place  of  abode. 
It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  that  Smith  proposed  to  plant  a 
town  near  the  falls  of  the  river,  where  the  city  of  Richmond 
now  stands.  Eight  months  of  good  order  under  his  rule  gave 
to  the  colony  a  period  of  peace  "and  industry,  of  order  and 
health.  The  quiet  of  his  administration  was  disturbed  in  its 
last  days  by  the  arrival  of  seven  ships  with  emigrants,  sent  out 
from  England  under  new  auspices,  so  that  they  for  the  mo- 
ment formed  an  element  of  anarchy.  Smith  maintained  his 
authority  until  his  year  of  office  was  over ;  and,  under  special 
arrangements,  a  little  longer,  until  he  was  accidentally  disabled 
by  wounds  which  the  medical  skill  of  the  colony  could  not  re- 
lieve. He  then  delegated  his  office  to  Percy  and  embarked 
for  England,  never  to  see  the  Chesapeake  again. 

Captain  John  Smith  united  the  strongest  spirit  of  adven- 
ture with  eminent  powers  of  action.  Full  of  courage. and  self- 
possession,  he  was  fertile  in  expedients,  and  prompt  in  execu- 
tion. He  had  a  just  idea  of  the  public  good,  and  clearly  dis- 
cerned that  it  was  not  the  true  interest  of  England  to  seek  in 
Yirginia  for  gold  and  sudden  wealth.  "  Nothing,"  said  he, 
*Ms  to  be  expected  thence  but  by  labor;"  and  as  a  public 
officer  he  excelled  in  its  direction.     The  historians  of  Yirginia 


1609-1614.   ENGLAND  PLANTS  A  NATION  IN   VIRGINIA.     97 

have  with  common  consent  looked  to  him  as  the  preserver  of 
their  commonwealth  in  its  infancy ;  and  there  is  hardly  room 
to  doubt  that,  but  for  his  vigor,  industry,  and  resolution,  it 
would  have  been  deserted  like  the  Virginia  of  the  north,  and 
with  better  excuse.  Of  government  under  the  forms  of  civil 
liberty  he  had  no  adequate  comprehension ;  but  his  adminis- 
tration was  the  most  wise,  provident,  and  just  of  any  one 
known  to  the  colony  under  its  first  charter.  It  was  his 
weakness  to  be  apt  to  boast.  As  a  writer,  he  deals  in  exaggera- 
tion and  romance,  but  in  a  less  degree  than  the  foreign  his- 
torians who  served  as  his  models ;  his  reports  and  his  maps  are 
a  proof  of  his  resolute  energy,  his  keenness  of  observation,  and 
his  truthfulness  of  statement.  His  official  report  to  the  com- 
pany is  replete  with  wise  remarks  and  just  reproof.  He  was 
public  spirited,  brave,  and  constantly  employed,  and,  with 
scanty  means,  did  more  toward  the  discovery  of  the  country 
than  all  others  of  his  time. 

After  the  desertion  of  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,  inter- 
course was  kept  up  with  that  part  of  the  country  by  vessels 
annually  employed  in  the  fisheries  and  the  trade  in  furs ;  and 
it  may  be  that  once  at  least,  perhaps  oftener,  some  part  of  a 
ship's  company  remained  during  the  winter  on  the  coast. 
John  Smith,  on  his  return  to  England,  still  asserted,  with 
unwearied  importunity  and  firmness  of  conviction,  that  coloni- 
zation was  the  true  policy  of  England ;  and,  in  April,  1614, 
sailed  with  two  ships  for  the  region  that  had  been  appropriated 
for  the  second  colony  of  Virginia.  This  private  adventure  of 
"  four  merchants  of  London  and  himself  "  was  very  successful. 
The  freights  were  profitable,  the  health  of  the  mariners  did 
not  suffer,  and  the  voyage  was  accomplished  in  less  than 
seven  months.  While  the  sailors  were  busy  with  their  hooks 
and  lines.  Smith  examined  the  shore  from  the  Penobscot  to 
Cape  Cod,  prepared  of  the  coast  a  map — the  first  which  gives 
its  outline  intelligibly  well ;  and  he  named  the  country  N'ew 
England — a  title  which  Prince  Charles  confirmed  ;  though  the 
French  could  boast,  with  truth,  that  Kew  France  had  been 
colonized  before  New  England  obtained  a  name;  that  Port 
Royal  was  older  than  Plymouth,  Quebec  than  Boston. 

Encouraged  by  commercial  success,  Smith,  in  the  next 


98  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  gh.  vi. 

year,  in  the  employment  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  of 
friends  in  London  who  were  members  of  the  Western  company, 
endeavored  to  establish  a  colony,  though  but  of  sixteen  men, 
for  the  occupation  of  E^ew  England.  The  attempt  was  made 
unsuccessful  by  violent  storms. 

Again  renewing  his  enterprise,  Smith  was  captured  by 
French  pirates.  His  ship  having  been  taken  away,  he  escaped 
alone,  in  an  open  boat,  from  the  harbor  of  Rochelle.  The 
severest  privations  in  a  new  settlement  would  have  been  less 
wearisome  than  the  labors  which  his  zeal  now  prompted  him 
to  undertake.  Having  published  a  map  and  description  of 
'New  England,  he  spent  many  months  in  visiting  the  mer- 
chants and  gentry  of  the  west :  he  proposed  to  the  cities 
mercantile  profits,  to  be  realized  in  short  and  safe  voyages ;  to 
the  noblemen,  vast  domains ;  to  men  of  small  means  he 
drew  a  lively  picture  of  the  rapid  advancement  of  fortune  by 
colonial  industry,  of  the  abundance  of  game,  the  delights  of 
unrestrained  liberty,  the  pleasures  to  be  derived  from  "angling, 
and  crossing  the  sweet  air  from  isle  to  isle  over  the  silent 
streams  of  a  calm  sea."  His  private  fortunes  never  recovered 
from  his  disastrous  capture  by  the  French ;  but  his  zeal  for 
the  interests  of  the  nation  redounded  to  his  honor ;  and  he  re- 
tired from  American  history  with  the  rank  of  Admiral  of  ISTew 
England  for  life. 


/ 

1609.  VIRGINIA  OBTAINS  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  99 


CHAPTEK  YII. 

VIRGINIA    OBTAINS    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

The  golden  anticipations  of  the  London  company  from  the 
colonization  of  Virginia  had  not  been  realized,  for  it  had 
grasped  at  sudden  emoluments.  Undaunted  by  the  "  train  of 
misfortunes,  the  kingdom  awoke  to  the  greatness  of  the  un- 
dertaking, and  designs  worthy  of  the  English  nation  were  con- 
ceived. The  second  charter  of  Virginia,  which,  at  the  request 
of  the  former  corporation,  passed  the  seals  on  the  twenty-third 
of  May,  1609,  intrusted  the  colonization  of  that  land  to  a  very 
numerousTopulent,  and  influential  body  of  adventurers.  The 
name  of  Robert^Cecil,  earl_of_^lisbury,  appears  at  the  head 
of  those  who  were  to  carry  into  execution  the  grand  design  to 
which  Raleigh,  now  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  had  aroused 
the  attention  of  his  countrymen.  Among  the  many  hundreds 
whose  names  followed  were  the  earls  of  Southampton,  Lin- 
coln, and  Dorset,  George  Percy,  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  uncle 
to  the  f utur^^otector.  Sir  Anthony  Ashley,  Sir  Edwin  San- 
dys.  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  Captain  John  Smith,  Pichard  Hak- 
luyt,  George  Sandys,  many  tradesmen^ahd  five-and-fif ty  public 
companies  of  London ;  so  that  the  nobility  and  gentry,  the 
army  and  the  bar,  the  industry  and  commerce  of  England, 
were  represented. 

The  territory  granted  to  the  company  extended  two  hun- 
dred miles  to  the  north,  and  as  many  to  the  south  of  Old 
Point  Comfort,  "  up  into  the  land  throughout  from  sea  to  sea, 
west  and  north-west,"  including  "  all  the  islands  lying  within 
one  hundred  miles  along  the  coast  of  both  seas  of  the  pre- 
cinct." \ 

At  the  request  of  the  corporation,  the  new  charter  trans- 


100  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMEEICA.   paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

ferred  to  tlie  company  the  powers  which  had  before  been  re- 
served to  the  king.  The  perpetual  supreme  council  in  Eng- 
land was  to  be  chosen  by  the  shareholders  themselves,  and,  in 
the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  legislation  and  government, 
^  was  independent  of  the  monarch.  The  governor  in  Yirginia, 
whom  the  corporation  was  to  appoint,  might  rule  the  colonists 
with  uncontrolled  authority,  according  to  the  tenor  of  instruc- 
tions and  laws  established  by  the  council,  or,  in  'want  of  them, 
according  to  his  own  good  discretion,  even  in  cases  capital  and 
criminal,  not  less  than  civil ;  and,  in  the  event  of  mutiny  or 
rebellion,  he  might  declare  martial  law,  being  himself  the 
judge  of  the  necessity  of  the  measure,  and  the  executive  officer 
in  its  administration.  If  not  one  valuable  civil  privilege  was 
guaranteed  to  the  emigrants,  they  were  at  least  withdrawn 
from  the  power  of  the  king ;  and  the  company  could  at  its 
pleasure  endow  them  with  all  the  rights  of  Englishmen. 

Lord  Delaware,  distinguished  for  his  virtues  as  well  as 
rank,  received  the  appointment  of  governor  and  captain-gen- 
eral for  life  ;  and  was  surrounded,  at  least  nominally,  by  stately 
officers,  with  titles  and  charges  suited  to  the  dignity  of  a  flour- 
ishing empire.  The  public  mind  favored  colonization ;  the 
adventurers,  with  cheerful  alacrity,  contributed  free-will  offer- 
ings; and  such  swarms  of  people  desired  to  be  transported 
that  the  company  could  despatch  a  fleet  of  nine  vessels,  con- 
taining more  than  five  hundred  emigrants. 

The  admiral  of  the  expedition  was  l!^ewport,  who,  with  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  George  Somers,  was  au'Shorized  to  ad- 
minister the  affairs  of  the  colony  till  the  arrival  of  Lord  Dela- 
ware. The  three  commissioners  had  embarked  on  board  the 
same  ship,  which,  near  the  coast  of  Yirginia,  was  separated  by 
a  hurricane  from  all  its  companions,  and  stranded  on  the  rocks 
of  the  Bermudas.  A  small  ketch  perished ;  so  that  seven 
ships  only  had  arrived  in  Yirginia. 

After  the  departure  of  Smith,  the  old  colonists,  and  the  new- 
comers, no  longer  controlled  by  an  acknowledged  authority, 
abandoned  themselves  to  improvident  idleness.  Their  ample 
stock  of  provisions  was  rapidly  consumed,  and  further  sup- 
plies were  refused  by  the  Indians,  who  began  to  regard  them 
with  a  fatal  contempt.     Stragglers  from  the  town  were  cut 


1609-1611.       VIRGINIA  OBTAINS  CIYIL/LJiB^KTY.  ?      101 

off;  parties,  which  begged  food  iii  j;h<^  in4ian{cai>iE^o^ 
murdered ;  and  plans  were  laid  to  starve  and  destroy  the 
whole  company.  The  horrors  of  famine  ensued,  while  a  band 
of  about  thirty,  seizing  on  a  ship,  escaped  to  become  pirates, 
and  to  plead  desperate  necessity  as  their  excuse.  In  six 
months,  indolence,  vice,  and  famine  reduced  the  number  in 
the  colony  to  sixty ;  ^  and  these  were  so  feeble  and  dejected 
that,  if  relief  had  been  delayed  but  ten  days  longer,  they  must 
have  perished. 

Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  the  passengers,  whose  ship  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  rocks  of  the  Bermudas,  had  reached  the  shore 
without  the  loss  of  a  life.  The  uninhabited  island,  teeming 
with  natural  products,  for  nine  months  sustained  them  in  afflu- 
ence. From  the  cedars  which  they  felled,  and  the  wrecks  of 
their  old  ship,  they  constructed  two  vessels,  in  which  they  em- 
barked for  Yirginia,  in  the  hope  of  a  happy  welcome  to  a  pros- 
perous colony.  How  great,  then,  was  their  dismay,  as  in 
May,  1610,  they  came  among  scenes  of  death  and  misery  and 
scarcity !  Four  pinnaces  remained  in  the  river ;  nor  could  the 
extremity  of  distress  listen  to  any  other  course  than  to  make 
sail  for  !N"ewfoundland.  The  colonists  desired  to  burn  the 
town  in  which  they  had  been  so  wretched,  but  were  prevented 
ty  Gates,  who  was  himself  the  last  to  desert  the  settlement. 
"E'one  dropped  a  tear,  for  none  had  enjoyed  one  day  of  hap- 
piness." On  the  eighth  they  fell  down  the  stream  with  the 
tide ;  but,  the  next  morning,  as  they  drew  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  theji  encountered  the  long-boat  of  Lord  Delaware, 
who  had  arrived  on  the  coast  with  emigrants  and  supplies. 
The  fugitives  bore  up  the  helm,  and,  favored  by  the  wind, 
were  that  night  once  more  at  the  fort  in  Jamestown. 

It  was  on  the  tenth  day  of  June  that  the  restoration  of  the 
colony  was  begun.  "  Bucke,  chaplain  of  the  Somer  islands, 
finding  all  things  so  contrary  to  their  expectations,  so  full  of  mis- 
ery and  misgovern  men  t,  made  a  zealous  and  sorrowful  prayer." 
A  deep  sense  of  the  infinite  mercies  of  Providence  revived 
hope  in  the  colonists  who  had  been  spared  by  famine,  the  emi- 
grants who  had  been  shipwrecked  and  yet  preserved,  and  the 
new-comers  who  found  wretchedness  and  want  where  they  had 
expected  abundance.   **  It  is,"  said  they,  "  the  arm  of  the  Lord 


102  \  '  EI^GLJSS  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  vii, 

o^.  Sq^te^  \yl\a  W(^ld  Mve  .liis  people  pass  the  Red  sea  and  the 
wilderness,  and  then  possess  the  land  of  Canaan."  ''  Doubt 
not,"  said  the  emigrants  to  the  people  of  England,  *'  God  will 
raise  our  state  and  build  liis  church  in  this  excellent  clime." 
Lord  Delaware  caused  his  commission  to  be  read ;  and,  after  a 
consultation  on  the  good  of  the  colony,  its  government  was  or- 
ganized with  mildness  but  decision.  The  evils  of  faction  were 
healed  bj  the  unity  of  the  administration,  and  the  dignity  and 
virtues  of  the  governor ;  and  the  colonists,  in  mutual  emula- 
tion, performed  their  tasks  with  alacrity.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  day  they  assembled  in  the  little  church,  which  was. kept 
neatly  trimrr\ed  with  the  wild  flowers  of  the  country ;  next, 
they  returned  to  their  houses  to  receive  their  allowance  of  food. 
The  hours  of  labor  were  from  six  in  the  morning  till  ten,  and 
from  two  in  the  afternoon  till  four.  The  houses  were  warm 
and  secure,  covered  above  with  strong  boards,  and  matted  on 
the  inside  after  the  fashion  of  the  Indian  wigwams. 

The  country  became  better  known.  Samuel  Argall,  who 
in  the  former  year  had  visited  Virginia  as  a  trading  agent  of 
Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  and  now  came  over  again  with  the  expe- 
dition of  1610,  explored  the  neighboring  coast  to  the  north. 
At  nine  in  the  morning  of  the  twenty-seventh  of  July  he  cast 
anchor  in  a  very  great  bay,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Delaware. 

Security  and  affluence  were  dawning  upon  the  colony.  But 
the  health  of  Lord  Delaware  sunk  under  his  cares  and  the  cli- 
mate ;  after  a  lingering  sickness,  he  left  the  administration 
with  Percy,  and  returned  to  England.  The  colony,  at  this 
time,  consisted  of  about  two  hundred  men ;  but  the  departure 
of  the  governor  produced  despondency  at  Jamestown;  "a 
damp  of  coldness  "  in  the  hearts  of  the  London  company ;  and 
a  great  reaction  in  the  popular  mind  in  England.  "  Our  own 
brethren  laugh  us  to  scorne,"  so  the  men  of  Jamestown  com- 
plained ;  "  and  papists  and  players,  the  scum  and  dregs  of  the 
earth,  mocke  such  as  help  to  build  up  the  walls  of  Jerusalem." 

Fortunately,  the  corporation,  before  the  retirement  of  Lord 
Delaware  was  known,  had  despatched  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  "  an 
experienced  soldier,"  with  supplies.  In  May,  1611,  he  arrived 
in  the  Chesapeake,  and  assumed  the  government,  which  he 
soon  afterward  administered  upon  the  basis  of  martial  law. 


1611-1612.       VIRGINIA   OBTAINS   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  103 

The  code,  printed  and  sent  to  Yirginia  by  the  treasurer,  Sir 
Thomas  Smythe,  on  his  own  authority,  and  without  the  order 
or  assent  of  the  company,  was  chiefly  a  translation  from  the 
rules  of  war  of  the  United  Provinces.  The  Episcopal  church, 
coeval  in  Yirginia  with  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  was,  like 
the  infant  commonwealth,  subjected  to  military  power ;  and, 
though  conformity  was  not  strictly  enforced,  yet  courts-martial 
had  authority  to  punish  indifference  with  stripes,  and  infidel- 
ity with  death.  The  normal  introduction  of  this  arbitrary  sys- 
tem, which  the  charter  permitted  only  in  cases  of  rebellion  and 
mutiny,  added  new  sorrows  to  the  wretchedness  of  the  people, 
who  pined  and  perished  under  despotic  rule. 

The  letters  of  Dale  to  the  council  confessed  the  small  num- 
ber and  weakness  and  discontent  of  the  colonists  ;  but  he  kin- 
dled hope  in  the  hearts  of  those  constant  adventurers,  who,  in 
the  greatest  disasters,  had  never  fainted.  "  If  anything  other- 
wise than  well  betide  me,"  said  he,  "  let  me  commend  unto 
your  carefulness  the  pursuit  and  dignity  of,this  business,  than 
which  your  purses  and  endeavors  will  never  open  nor  travel  in 
a  more  meritorious  enterprise.  Take  four  of  the  best  kingdoms 
in  Christendom,  and  put  them  all  together,  they  may  no  way 
compare  with  this  country,  either  for  commodities  or  goodness 
of  soil."  Lord  Delaware  and  Sir  Thomas  Gates  confirmed 
what  Dale  had  written,  and,  without  any  delay,  Gates,  who 
has  the  honor,  to  all  posterity,  of  being  the  first  named  in  the 
original  patent  for  Yirginia,  conducted  to  the  IS'ew  World  six 
ships,  with  three  hundred  emigrants.  Long  afterward  the 
gratitude  of  Yirginia  to  these  early  settlers  was  shown  by 
repeated  acts  of  benevolent  legislation.  A  wise  liberality  sent 
with  them  a  hundred  kine. 

The  promptness  of  this  relief  merits  admiration.  In  May, 
1611,  Dale  had  written  from  Yirginia ;  and  the  last  of  August 
the  new  recruits;  under  Gates,  were  already  at  Jamestown.  So 
unlooked  for  was  this  supply  that,  at  their  approach,  they  were 
regarded  with  fear  as  a  hostile  fleet.  Who  can  describe  the 
joy  at  finding  them  to  be  friends  ?  Gates  assumed  the  govern- 
ment amidst  the  thanksgivings  of  the  colony,  and  endeavored 
to  employ  the  sentiment  of  religious  trust  as  a  foundation  of 
order  and  of  laws.     "  Lord  bless  England,  our  sweet  native 


104  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

country,"  was  the  morning  and  evening  prayer  of  the  grateful 
colony,  which  now  numbered  seven  hundred  men.  Dale, 
with  the  consent  of  Gates,  went  far  up  the  river  to  found  the 
new  plantation,  which,  in  honor  of  Prince  Henry,  a  gen- 
eral favorite  with  the  English  people,  was  named  Henrico ; 
and  there,  on  the  remote  frontier,  Alexander  Whitaker,  the 
self-denying  "  apostle  of  Yirginia,"  assisted  in  "  bearing  the 
name  of  God  to  the  gentiles."  But  the  greatest  change  in  the 
condition  of  the  colonists  resulted  from  the  incipient  establish- 
ment of  private  property.  To  each  man  a  few  acres  of  ground 
were  assigned  for  his  orchard  and  garden,  to  plant  for  his  own 
use.  Henceforward  the  sanctity  of  private  property  was  rec- 
ognised. Yet  the  rights  of  the  Indians  were  little  respected ; 
nor  did  the  English  disdain  to  appropriate  by  conquest  the 
soil,  the  cabins,  and  the  granaries  of  the  tribe  of  the  Appomat- 
tocks.  It  was,  moreover,  the  policy  of  the  government  so  "  to 
overmaster  the  subtile  Powhatan  "  that  he  must  perforce  join 
with  the  residents  from  abroad  in  submissive  friendship,  or 
"  leave  his  country  to  their  possession." 

When  the  court  of  Spain  learned  that  the  English  were 
taking  to  themselves  the  land  on  the  Chesapeake,  it  repeatedly 
threatened  to  send  armed  galleons  to  remove  the  planters.  In 
the  summer  of  IGll  a  Spanish  caravel  with  a  shaP^^  anchored 
near  Point  Comfort,  and,  obtaining  a  pilot  from  the  fort,  took 
soundings  of  the  channels.  Yet  no  use  was  made  of  the 
knowledge  thus  acquired ;  the  plantation  was  reported  to  be 
in  such  extremities  that  it  could  not  but  fall  of  itself. 

While  the  colony  was  advancing  in  strength  and  happiness, 
the  third  patent  for  Yirginia,  signed  in  March,  1612,  granted 
to  the  shareholders  in  England  the  Bermudas  and  all  islands 
within  three  hundred  leagues  of  the  Yirginia  shore ;  a  conces- 
-sion  of  no  ultimate  importance  in  American  history,  since  the 
new  acquisitions  were  soon  made  over  to  a  separate  company. 
But  it  was  further  ordered  that  weekly,  or  even  more  frequent 
meetings,  of  the  whole  company  might  be  convened  for  the 
transaction  of  ordinary  business ;  while  all  questions  respect- 
ing government,  commerce,  and  the  disposition  of  lands, 
should  be  reserved  for  the  four  great  aad  general  courts,  at 
which  all  officers  were  to  be  elected  and  all  laws  established. 


1612-1614.       VIRGINIA  OBTAINS   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  105 

The  political  rights  of  the  colonists  were  not  directly  acknowl- 
edged ;  but  the  character  of  the  corporation  was  entirely 
changed  by  transferring  power  from  the  council  to  the  com- 
pany, through  whose  assemblies  the  people  of  Virginia  might 
gain  leave  to  exercise  every  political  power  belonging  to  the 
people  of  England.  At  the  same  time  lotteries,  though  un- 
usual in  England,  were  authorized.  They  produced  to  the 
company  twenty-nine  thousand  pounds ;  disliked  by  the  nation 
as  a  grievance,  in  1621,  on  the  complaint  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons, they  were  suspended  by  an  order  of  council. 

There  was  no  longer  any  doubt  of  the  stability  of  the  col- 
ony. They  who  had  freely  offered  gifts,  while  "  the  holy  ac- 
tion" of  planting  it  was  '*  languishing  and  forsaken,"  saw  the 
"  pious  and  heroic  enterprise "  assured  of  success.  Shake- 
speare, whose  friend,  the  "popular"  earl  of  Southampton, 
was  the  foremost  man  in  the  Virginia  company,  shared  the 
pride  and  the  hope  of  his  countrymen.  As  he  heard  of  James 
river  and  Jamestown,  his  splendid  prophecy,  by  the  mouth 
of  Cranmer,  promised  the  English  the  possession  of  a  hemi- 
sphere, through  the  patron  of  colonies,  King  James: 

Wherever  the  bright  sun  of  heaven  shall  shine, 

His  honor  and  the  greatness  of  his  name 

ShalJi^he,  and  make  new  nations. 
From  V  irginia  came  the  first  check  on  French  colonization 
in  ^N^orth  America.  In  the  spring  of  1613,  in  a  vessel  which 
carried  fifteen  guns  and  a  crew  of  sixty  men,  Argall  set  forth 
on  a  fishing  voyage  to  the  Isle  of  Shoals.  In  the  wafers  of  New 
England  he  heard  of  the  establishment  of  the  French  on  Mount 
Desert  isle.  Its  founder,  Madame  de  Guercheville,  had  not 
only  purchased  the  rights  of  De  Monts,  but  had  obtained  a  royal 
grant  to  colonize  any  part  of  America  from  the  great  river  of 
Canada  to  Florida,  excepting  only  Port  Eoyal.  Her  earliest 
colony,  consisting  of  three  Jesuits  and  thirty  men,  had  planted 
themselves  on  an  inviting  hillside  that  sloped  gently  toward 
the  sea,  and  were  sheltered  in  four  pavilions,  which  had  been  ' 
the  gift  of  the  queen  dowager  of  France,  Mary  of  Medici.  Of 
a  sudden  they  beheld  a  ship  tricked  out  in  red,  bearing  the  flag 
of  England,  with  thr^  trumpets  and  two  drums  sounding  vio- 
lently, sailing  under  favoring  winds  into  their  harbor  swifter 

VOL.  I.— 9      *  ^ 


106  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,   paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

than  an  arrow.  It  was  Argall,  with  a  force  too  great  to  be 
resisted.  After  cannonading  the  slight  intrenchments,  and  a 
sharp  discharge  of  musketry,  he  gained  possession  of  the  infant 
hamlet  of  St.  Saviour.  The  cross  round  which  the  faithful  had 
gathered  was  thrown  down,  the  tents  were  abandoned  to  pillage, 
and  the  ship  in  the  harbor  seized  as  a  prize,  because  captured 
within  the  limits  of  Virginia.  The  French  were  expelled  from 
the  territory,  but  with  no  further  act  of  inhumanity  or  cruelty  ; 
a  part  of  them  found  their  way  to  a  vessel  bound  for  St.  Malo, 
others  were  taken  to  the  Chesapeake. 

On  making  his  report  at  Jamestown,  Argall  was  sent  once 
more  to  the  north,  with  authority  to  remove  every  landmark 
of  France  in  the  territory  south  of  the  forty-sixth  degree.  He 
raised  the  arms  of  England  on  the  spot  where  those  of  France 
and  De  Guercheville  had  been  thrown  down,  razed  the  forti- 
fications of  De  Monts  on  the  isle  of  St.  Croix,  and  set  on  fire 
the  deserted  settlement  of  Port  Royal.  In  this  manner  Eng- 
land vindicated  her  claims.  In  less  than  a  century  and  a  half 
the  strife  for  acres  which  neither  nation  could  cultivate  kin- 
dled war  round  the  globe ;  but  for  the  moment  France,  dis- 
tracted by  the  factions  which  followed  the  assassination  of 
Henry  TV.,  did  not  resent  the  insult  to  her  flag ;  and  the  com- 
plaint of  Madame  de  Guercheville  was  presented  only  as  a 
private  claim. 

Meantime  the  captivity  of  the  daughter  of  Powhatan,  who 
had  been  detained  at  Jamestown  as  a  hostage  for  the  return 
of  EngHshmen  held  in  captivity  by  her  father,  led  to  better 
relations  between  Virginia  and  the  Indian  tribes.  For  the 
Bake  of  her  liberation  the  chief  set  free  his  English  captives. 
During  the  period  of  her  stay  at  Jamestown,  John  Kolfe,  "  an 
honest  and  discreet "  young  Englishman,  daily,  hourly,  and,  as 
it  were,  in  his  very  sleep,  heard  a  voice  crying  in  his  ears  that 
he  should  strive  to  make  her  a  Christian.  After  a  great  strug- 
gle of  mind  and  daily  and  believing  prayers,  he  resolved  to 
labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  "  unregenerated  maiden  ;  "  and, 
winning  the  favor  of  Pocahontas,  he  desired  her  in  marriage. 
The  youthful  princess  received  instruction  with  docility  ;  and 
Boon,  in  the  little  church  of  Jamestown  which  rested  on  rough 
pine  columns  fresh  from  the  forest,  she  stood  before  the  font 


1614-1616.       VIRGINIA  OBTAINS   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  107 

that  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  "  had  been  hewn  hollow  like  a 
canoe,"  "  openlj  renounced  her  country's  idolatry,  professed 
the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  baptized."  "  The  gaining 
of  this  one  soul,"  "  the  first  fruits  of  Virginian  conversion," 
was  followed  by  her  nuptials  with  Kolfe.  In  April,  1614, 
to  the  joy  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  with  the  approbation  of  her 
father  and  friends,  Opachisco,  her  uncle,  gave  the  bride 
away;  and  she  stammered  before  the  altar  her  marriage 
vows. 

Every  historian  of  Virginia  commemorates  the  union  with 
approbation ;  men  are  proud  to  trace  from  it  their  descent. 
Its  immediate  fruits  to  the  colony  were  a  confirmed  peace,  not 
with  Powhatan  alone,  but  with  the  powerful  Chickahominies, 
who  demanded  to  be  called  Englishmen.  But  the  European 
and  the  native  races  could  not  blend,  and  the  weakest  were 
doomed  to  disappear. 

Sir  Thomas  Gates,  who,  in  March,  1614,  had  left  the  gov- 
ernment with  Dale,  on  his  return  to  England  employed  him- 
self in  reviving  the  courage  of  the  London  company.  In 
May,  1614,  a  petition  for  aid  was  presented  to  the  house  of 
commons,  and  was  heard  with  unusual  solemnity.  It  was  sup- 
ported by  Lord  Delaware,  whose  affection  for  Virginia  ceased 
only  with  life.  He  would  have  had  the  enterprise  adopted  by 
the  house  and  king,  even  at  the  risk  of  a  conflict  with  the 
Spaniards.  "  All  it  requires,"  said  he,  "  is  but  a  few  honest 
laborers,  burdened  with  children."  He  moved  for  a  committee 
to  consider  of  relief,  but  nothirig  was  agreed  upon.  The  king- 
was  eager  to  press  upon  the  house  the  supply  of  his  wants,, 
and  the  commons  to  consider  the  grievances  of  the  people ; 
and  these  disputes  with  the  monarch  led  to  a  hasty  dissolution 
of  the  commons.  It  was  not  to  Drivileg^ed  companies^  parlia- 
ments^or  kings,  that  the  new  state  was  to  owe  its  pro^p^^ptjv.. 
Agriculture  enriclied^Yirginia. 

The  condition  of  private  property  in  lands  among  the  colo- 
nists, depended  in  some  measure  on  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  had  emigrated.  For  those  who  had  been  sent  and 
maintained  at  the  exclusive  cost  of  the  company  and  were  its 
servants,  one  month  of  their  time  and  three  acres  of  land  had 
been  set  apart,  besides  an  allowance  of  two  bushels  of  corn 


108  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,   paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

from  the  public  store ;  the  rest  of  their  labor  belonged  to  their 
employers.  This  number  gradually  decreased ;  and,  in  1617, 
there  were  of  them  all,  men,  women,  and  children,  but  fifty- 
four.  Others,  especially  in  the  favorite  settlement  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Appomattox,  were  tenants,  paying  two  and  a 
haK  barrels  of  corn  as  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  store,  and  givino* 
to  the  public  service  one  month's  labor,  which  was  to  be  re- 
quired neither  at  seed-time  nor  harvest.  He  who  came  him- 
seK,  or  had  sent  others  at  his  own  expense,  had  been  entitled 
to  a  hundred  acres  of  land  for  each  person ;  now  that  the  col- 
ony was  well  established,  the  bounty  on  emigration  was  fixed 
at  fifty  acres,  of  which  the  actual  occupation  and  culture  gave 
a  right  to  as  many  more,  to  be  assigned  at  leisure.  Besides 
this,  lands  were  granted  as  rewards  of  merit ;  yet  not  more 
than  two  thousand  acres  could  be  so  appropriated  to  one  per- 
son. A  payment  to  the  company's  treasury  of  twelve  pounds, 
and  ten  shillings  obtained  a  title  to  any  hundred  acres  of  land 
not  yet  granted  or  possessed,  with  a  reserved  claim  to  as  much 
more.  Such  were  the  earliest  land  laws  of  Virginia :  though 
imperfect  and  unequal,  they  gave  the  cultivator  the  means  of 
becoming  a  proprietor  of  the  soil.  These  changes  were  estab-- 
lished  by  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  a  magistrate,  who,  notwithstanding' 
the  introduction  of  martial  law,  has  gained  praise  for  his  vigor 
and  industry,  his  judgment  and  conduct.  Having  remained 
^ve  years  in  America,  he  appointed  George  Yeardley  deputy 
governor ;  and,  with  Pocahontas  and  her  husband  as  the  com- 
panions of  his  voyage,  in  June,  1616,  he  arrived  in  his  native 
country. 

The  Yirginia  princess,  instructed  in  the  English  language, 
and  bearing  an  English  name,  "  the  first  Christian  ever  of  her 
nation,"  was  wondered  at  in  the  city ;  entertained  with  un- 
wonted festival  state  and  pomp  by  the  bishop  of  London,  in 
his  hopeful  zeal  to  advance  Christianity  by  her  influence  ;  and 
graciously  received  at  court,  where,  on  one  of  the  holidays  of 
the  following  Christmas  season,  she  was  a  guest  at  the  present- 
ment of  a  burlesque  masque,  which  Ben  Jonson  had  written 
to  draw  a  hearty  laugh  from  King  James.  A  few  weeks  later 
she  prepared  to  return  to  the  land  of  her  fathers,  but  died  at 
Gravesend  as  *he  was  bound  for  home,  saved  from  beholding 


1616-1619.       VIRGINIA  OBTAINS  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  109 

the  extermination  of  the  tribes  from  which  she  sprung,  and 
dwelling  in  tradition  under  the  form  of  gentleness  and  youth. 

With  the  success  of  a,grir"h.nrft.^  the  Virginians,  for  the 
security  of  property,  needed  the  possession  of  political  rights. 
From  the  first  settlement  of  Virginia,  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  had 
been  the  presiding  officer  of  the  London  company ;  and  no 
willingness  had  been  shown  to  share  the  powers  of  government 
with  the  emigrants,  who  had  thus  far  been  ruled  as  soldiers  in 
a  garrison.  Now  that  they  had  outgrown  this  condition  of 
dependency,  and  were  possessed  of  the  elements  of  political 
life,  they  found  among  the  members  of  the  London  company 
wise  and  powerful  and  disinterested  friends.  Yet  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  deputy  governor  the  faction  of  Smythe  still 
prevailed;  and  Argall,  who  had  been  his  mercantile  agent, 
was  elected  by  ballot  to  supersede  Yeardley  as  deputy  gov- 
ernor of  the  colony.  He  was  further  invested  with  the  place 
of  admiral  of  the  country  and  the  adjoining  seas,  an  evidence 
that  his  overthrow  of  the  French  settlements  in  the  north  was 
approved. 

In  May,  1617,  Argall  arrived  in  Virginia,  and  assumed  its 
government*  Placed  above  immediate  control,  he  showed 
himself  from  the  first  arrogant,  self-willed,  and  greedy  of  gain. 
Martial  law  was  still  the  common  law  of  the  country,  and  his 
arbitrary  rule  "  imported  more  hazard  to  the  plantation  than 
ever  did  any  other  thing  that  befell  that  action  from  the  be- 
ginning." He  disposed  of  the  kine  and  bullocks  belonging  to 
the  colony  for  his  own  benefit ;  he  took  to  himself  a  monopoly 
of  the  fur  trade ;  he  seized  ancient  colony  men,  who  were  free, 
and  laborers  who  were  in  the  service  of  the  company,  and 
forced  them  to  work  for  himself. 

Before  an  account  of  his  malfeasance  in  office  reached 
England,  Lord  Delaware,  the  governor-general,  had  been  des- 
patched by  the  company  with  two  hundred  men  and  supplies 
for  the  colony.  He  was  followed  by  orders  to  ship  the  deputy 
governor  home,  where  he  was  "to  answer  everything  that 
should  be  laid  to  his  charge." 

The  presence  of  Lord  Delaware  might  have  restored  tran- 
quillity ;  his  health  was  not  equal  to  the  voyage,  and  he  did 
not  live  to  reach  Virginia.     Argall  was  therefore  left  unre- 


110  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

strained  to  defraud  the  company,  as  well  as  to  oppress  tlie  col- 
onists. The  condition  of  Virginia  became  intolerable;  the 
labor  of  the  settlers  continued  to  be  perverted  to  the  benefit  of 
the  governor ;  servitude,  for  a  limited  period,  was  the  common 
penalty  annexed  to  trifling  offences ;  and,  in  a  colony  where 
martial  law  still  continued  in  force,  life  was  insecure  against 
his  capricious  passions.  The  first  appeal  ever  made  from 
America  to  England,  directed  not  to  the  king,  but  to  the  com- 
pany, was  in  behalf  of  one  whom  Argall  had  wantonly  con- 
demned to  death,  and  whom  he  had  with  great  difficulty  been 
prevailed  upon  to  respite.  The  colony  was  fast  falling  into 
disrepute,  and  the  report  of  the  tyranny  established  beyond 
the  Atlantic  checked  emigration ;  but  it  happily  roused  the 
discontent  of  the  best  of  the  adventurers.  When  on  the  fifth 
of  October,  1618,  the  news  of  the  death  of  Lord  Delaware 
reached  London,  they  demanded  a  reformation  with  guaran- 
tees for  the  future.  After  a  strenuous  contest  on  the  part  of 
rival  factions  for  the  control  of  the  company,  the  influence  of 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys  and  his  friends  prevailed ;  Argall  was  dis- 
placed, and  the  mild  and  popular  Yeardley  was  elected  gov- 
ernor in  his  stead,  with  higher  rank.  On  the  twenty-second 
of  JS'ovember  the  king  gave  him  audience,  knighted  him, 
and  held  a  long  discourse  with  him  on  the  religion  of  the 
natives.  Vessels  lay  in  the  Thames  ready  for  Virginia ;  but, 
before  the  new  chief  magistrate  could  reach  his  post,  Argall 
had  withdrawn,  having  previously,  by  fraudulent  devices,  pre- 
served for  himself  and  his  partners  the  fruits  of  his  extortions. 
On  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1619,  Sir  George  Yeardley 
entered  on  his  office  in  the  colony.  Of  the  emigrants  who  had 
been  sent  over  at  great  cost,  not  one  in  twenty  then  remained 
alive.  "In  James  citty  were  only  those  houses  that  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  built  in  the  tyme  of  his  government,  with  one 
wherein  the  governor  allwayes  dwelt,  and  a  church,  built 
wholly  at  the  charge  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  citye,  of  timber, 
being  fifty  foote  in  length  and  twenty  in  breadth."  At  the 
town  of  Henrico  there  were  no  more  than  "  three  old  houses, 
a  poor  ruinated  church,  with  some  few  poore  buildings  in 
the  islande."  "For  ministers  to  instruct  the  people,  only 
three  were  authorized;  two  others  had  never  received  their 


1619.  VIRGINIA  OBTAINS  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  HI 

orders."  "The  natives  were  upon  doubtfull  termes;"  and 
the  colony  was  altogether  "  in  a  poore  estate." 

From  the  moment  of  Yeardley's  arrival  dates  the  real  life 
of  Yirginia.  Bringing  with  him  "  commissions  and  instruc- 
tions from  the  company  for  the  better  establishinge  of  a  com- 
monwealth," he  made  proclamation  "  that  those  cruell  lawes, 
by  which  the  ancient  planters  had  soe  longe  been  governed, 
were  now  abrogated,  and  that  they  were  to  be  governed  by 
those  free  lawes,  which  his  majesties  subjectes  lived  under  in 
Englande."  Nor  were  these  concessions  left  dependent  on  the 
good-will  of  administrative  officers.  "  That  the  planters  might 
have  a  hande  in  the  governing  of  themselves,  yt  was  graunted 
that  a  generall  assemblie  shoulde  be  helde  yearly  once,  where- 
at were  to  be  present  the  governor  and  counsell  with  two  bur- 
gesses from  each  plantation,  freely  to  be  elected  by  the  inhabi- 
tantes  thereof,  this  assemblie  to  have  power  to  make  and  or- 
daine  whatsoever  lawes  and  orders  should  by  them  be  thought 
good  and  profitable  for  their  subsistence." 

In  conformity  with  these  instructions.  Sir  George  Yeard- 
ley  "  sente  his  summons  all  over  the  country,  as  well  to  invite 
those  of  the  counsell  of  estate  that  were  absente,  as  also  for 
the  election  of  burgesses." 

'Nor  did  the  patriot  members  of  the  London  company 
leave  him  without  support.  At  the  great  and  general  court  of 
the  Easter  term.  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  having  reluctantly  pro- 
fessed a  wish  to  be  eased  of  his  office,  was  dismissed,  and  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys  elected  by  a  great  majority  governor  and  treas- 
urer. For  deputy,  John  Ferrar  was  elected  by  a  like  majority. 
Nicholas  Ferrar,  the  younger  brother  of  the  deputy,  just 
turned  of  six-and-twenty,  one  of  the  purest  and  least  selfish 
men  that  ever  lived,  who  a  few  months  before  had  returned 
from  an  extensive  tour  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  was  made 
counsel  to  the  corporation  ;  and  the  conduct  of  business  gradu- 
ally fell  into  his  hands.  He  proved  himself  able  and  inde- 
fatigable in  business,  devoted  to  his  country  and  its  church,  at 
once  a  royalist,  and  a  wise  and  firm  upholder  of  English  liber- 
ties. In  the  early  history  of  American  colonization  the  Eng- 
lish character  nowhere  showed  itself  to  better  advantage  than 
in  the  Yirginia  company  after  the  change  in  its  direction. 


112  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch..  vii. 

It  was  therefore  without  any  danger  of  being  thwarted  at 
home  that  on  Friday,  the  thirtieth  day  of  July,  1619,  delegates 
from  each  of  the  eleven  plantations  of  Virginia  assembled  at 
James  City. 

The  inauguration  of  legislative  power  in  the  Ancient  Do- 
minion preceded  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery.  The  gov- 
ernor and  council  sat  with  the  burgesses,  and  took  part  in 
motions  and  debates.  John  Pory,  a  councillor  and  secretary 
of  the  colony,  though  not  a  burgess,  was  chosen  speaker. 
Legislation  was  opened  with  prayer.  The  assembly  exercised 
fully  the  right  of  judging  of  the  proper  election  of  its  mem- 
bers ;  and  they  would  not  suffer  any  patent,  conceding  manor- 
ial jurisdiction,  to  bar  the  obligation  of  obedience  to  their 
decisions.  They  wished  every  grant  of  land  to  be  made  with 
equal  favor,  that  all  complaint  of  partiality  might  be  avoided, 
and  the  uniformity  of  laws  and  orders  never  be  impeached. 
The  commission  of  privileges  sent  by  Sir  George  Yeardley 
was  their  "  great  charter,"  or  organic  act,  which  they  claimed 
no  right  "  to  correct  or  control ; " -yet  they  kept  the  way  open 
for  seeking  redress,  "  in  case  they  should  find  ought  not  per- 
fectly squaring  with  the  state  of  the  colony." 
^  Leave  to  propose  laws  was  given  to  any  burgess,  or  by  way 
of  petition  to  any  member  of  the  colony ;  but,  for  expedition's 
sake,  the  main  business  of  the  session  was  distributed  between 
two  committees ;  while  a  third  body,  composed  of  the  gov- 
ernor and  such  burgesses  as  were  not  on  those  committees,  ex- 
amined, which  of  former  instructions  "  might  conveniently  put 
on  the  habit  of  laws."  The  legislature  acted  also  as  a  criminal 
court. 

The  church  of  England  was  confirmed  as  the  church  of 
Yirginia ;  it  was  intended  that  the  first  four  ministers  should 
each  receive  two  hundred  pounds  a  year ;  all  persons  whatso- 
ever, upon  the  Sabbath  days,  were  to  frequent  divine  service 
and  sermons  both  forenoon  and  afternoon  ;  and  all  such  as  bore 
arms,  to  bring  their  pieces  or  swords.  Grants  of  land  were 
asked  not  for  planters  only,  but  for  their  wives,  "  because,  in  a 
new  plantation,  it  is  not  known  whether  man  or  woman  be 
the  most  necessary."  Measures  were  adopted  "toward  the 
erecting,  of  a  university  and  college."     It  was  enacted  that,  of 


1610-1620.      VIRGIMA    OBTAINS   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  113 

the  children  of  the  Indians,  "  the  most  towardlj  bojs  in  wit 
and  graces  of  nature  should  be  brought  up  in  the  iirst  elements 
of  literature,  and  sent  from  the  college  to  the  work  of  conver- 
sion "  of  the  natives  to  the  Christian  religion.  Penalties  were 
appointed  for  idleness,  gaming  with  dice  or  cards,  and  drunk- 
enness. Excess  in  apparel  was  restrained  by  a  tax.  The  busi- 
ness of  planting  corn,  mulberry-trees,  hemp,  and  vines  was 
encouraged.  The  price  of  tobacco  was  fixed  at  three  shillings 
a  pound  for  the  best,  and  half  as  much  "  for  the  second  sort." 

When  the  question  was  taken  on  accepting  '-  the  great  char- 
ter," "  it  had  the  general  assent  and  the  applause  of  the  whole 
assembly,"  with  thanks  for  it  to  Almighty  God  and  to  those 
from  whom  it  had  issued,  in  the  names  of  the  burgesses  and 
of  the  whole  colony  whom  they  represented  :  the  more  so,  as 
they  were  promised  the  power  to  allow  or  disallow  the  orders 
of  the  court  of  the  London  company. 

A  perpetual  interest  attaches  to  this  first  elective  body  that 
ever  assembled  in  the  western  world,  r^resenting  the  people 
of  Yirginia,  and  making  laws  for  their  government,  more  than 
a  year  before  the  Mayflower,  with  the  pilgrims,  left  the  har- 
bor of  Southampton,  and  while  Yirginia  was  still  the  only 
British  colony  on  the  continent  of  America.  The  functions 
of  gov^ernment  were  in  some  degree  confounded ;  but  the  rec- 
ord of  the  proceedings  justifies  the  opinion  of  Sir  Edwin  San- 
dys, that  "the  laws  were  very  well  and  judiciously  formed." 

The  enactments  of  these  earliest  American  law-givers  were 
instantly  put  in  force,  without  waiting  for  their  ratification 
by  the  company  in  England.  Former  griefs  were  buried  in 
oblivion,  and  they  who  had  been  dependent  on  the  will  of  a 
governor,  having  recovered  the  privileges  of  Englishmen, 
under  a  code  of  laws  of  their  own,  "  fell  to  building  houses 
and  planting  corn,"  and  henceforward  "  regarded  Yirginia  as 
their  country." 

The  patriot  party  in  England,  who  now  controlled  the  Lon- 
don company,  engaged  with  earnestness  in  schemes  to  advance 
the  numbers  and  establish  the  liberties  of  their  plantation. 
Ko  intimidations — not  even  threats  of  blood — could  deter  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys,  the  new  treasurer,  from  investigating  and  re- 
forming the  abuses  by  which  its  progress  had  been  retarded. 


114  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

At  his  accession  to  office,  after  twelve  years'  labor,  and  an 
expenditure  of  eighty  thousand  pounds  by  the  company,  there 
were  in  the  colony  no  more  than  six  hundred  men,  women, 
and  children ;  and  in  one  year  the  company  and  private  adven- 
turers made  provision  to  send  over  twelve  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  persons. 

To  the  other  titles  of  "  the  high  empress  "  Elizabeth,  Spen- 
ser had,  just  before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  added 
that  of  "  queen  of  Virginia ;  "  King  James,  who  was  already 
the  titular  sovereign  of  four  realms,  now  accepted  as  the  motto 
for  the  London  company's  coat  of  arms :  "  Lo !  Virginia  gives 
a  fifth  crown."  A  strong  interest  took  hold  of  the  people  of 
England ;  gifts  and  bequests  came  in  for  "  the  sacred  work  " 
of  founding  a  colonial  college  and  building  up  the  colonial 
church.  There  were  two  poets,  of  whose  works  Richard  Bax- 
ter said  that  he  found  "none  so  savoury  next  to  the  Scripture 
poems."  Of  these,  George  Sandys,  son  of  the  archbishop  of 
York,  himself  repaired  to  Virginia  as  its  resident  treasurer,  to 
assist  in  establishing  "  a  rich  and  well  peopled  kingdom ; " 
and  George  Herbert,  the  bosom  friend  of  Nicholas  Ferrar,  ex- 
pressed the  feeling  of  the  best  men  of  England  when  he  wrote : 
Religion  stands  on  tip-toe  in  our  land, 
Readie  to  passe  to  the  American  strand. 

The  quarter  session,  held  on  the  seventeenth  of  May,  1620, 
was  attended  by  near  five  hundred  persons,  among  whom 
were  twenty  great  peers  of  the  land ;  near  a  hundred  knights 
of  the  kingdom ;  as  many  more  officers  of  the  army,  and  re- 
nowned lawyers ;  and  numerous  merchants  and  men  of  busi- 
ness. It  was  the  general  wish  of  the  company  to  continue 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys  in  his  high  office ;  but,  before  they  pro- 
ceeded to  ballot,  an  agent  from  the  palace  presented  himself 
with  the  message  that,  out  of  especial  care  for  the  plantation, 
the  king  nominated  unto  them  four,  of  whom  his  pleasure  was 
the  company  should  choose  one  to  be  their  treasurer.  Desir- 
ing the  royal  messenger  to  remain,  Southampton  entered  into 
a  defence  of  the  patent,  and  added  :  "  The  hopeful  country  of 
Virginia  is  a  land  which  will  find  full  employment  for  all 
needy  people,  will  provide  estates  for  all  younger  brothers, 
gentlemen  of  this  kingdom,  and  will  supply  this  nation  with 


1620-1621.       VIRGINIA  OBTAINS  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  115 

commodities  we  are  fain  to  fetch  from  foreign  nations,  from 
doubtful  friends,  yea,  from  heathen  princes.  This  business  is 
of  so  great  concernment  that  it  never  can  be  too  solemnly,  too 
thoroughly,  or  too  publicly  examined."  Sir  Laurens  Hyde, 
the  learned  lawyer,  asked  that  the  patent  given  under  the  great 
seal  of  England,  the  hand  and  honor  of  a  king,  might  be  pro- 
duced. ''  The  patent ! "  ''  The  patent !  "  cried  all ;  and,  when 
it  was  brought  forth  and  read,  Hyde  went  on  :  "  You  see  the 
point  of  electing  a  governor  is  thereby  left  to  your  own  free 
choice."  It  was  then  agreed  that  the  election  should  be  put 
off  until  the  next  great  and  general  court  in  midsummer  term  ; 
and  a  committee  of  twelve,  with  Southampton  at  their  head, 
was  in  the  interim  to  beseech  his  majesty  not  to  take  from 
them  the  privilege  of  their  letters  patent.  Their  right  was  so 
clear  that  the  king  explained  away  his  interference,  as  he  had  in- 
tended no  more  than  to  recommend  the  persons  whom  he  nomi- 
nated, and  not  to  bar  the  company  from  the  choice  of  any  other. 

When  at  the  quarter  session,  near  the  end  of  June,  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys,  yielding  to  the  ill-will  of  the  king,  withdrew 
from  competition,  "  the  whole  court  immediately,  with  much 
joy  and  applause,  nominated  the  earl  of  Southampton  ; "  and, 
resolving  "  to  surcease  the  balloting  box,"  chose  him  by  erec- 
tion of  hands.  In  response,  he  desired  them  all  to  put  on  the 
same  minds  with  which  he  accepted  the  place  of  treasurer. 

He  made  the  condition  that  his  friend,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys, 
should  give  him  assistance ;  and  these,  with  Mcholas  Ferrar, 
were  the  men  who  for  a  time  managed  "  the  great  work  of 
redeeming  the  noble  plantation  of  Virginia  from  the  ruins 
that  seemed  to  hang  over  it : "  the  first  celebrated  for  wis- 
dom, eloquence,  and  sweet  deportment ;  Sandys,  for  knowl- 
edge and  integrity ;  and  Nicholas  Ferrar,  for  ability,  unwea- 
ried diligence,  and  the  strictest  virtue.  All  three  were  sincere 
members  of  the  British  church:  the  first,  a  convert  from 
papacy  ;  the  last,  pious  even  to  a  romantic  excess.  All  three 
were  royalists,  and  all  three  were  animated  by  that  love  of 
liberty  which  formed  a  part  of  the  l^ereditary  patriotism  of  an 
Englishman. 

Under  their  harmonious  direction  the  policy  of  the  former 
year  was  continued ;  and  more  than  eleven  hundred  persons 


116  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN   AMEEICA.   paet  i.  ;  ch.  vii. 

found  their  way  annually  to  Virginia.  "  The  people  of  Vir- 
ginia had  not  been  settled  in  their  minds,"  and  as,  before  the 
recent  changes,  they  retained  the  design  of  ultimately  return- 
ing to  England,  it  was  necessary  to  multiply  attachments  to 
the  soil.  Few  women  had  dared  to  cross  the  Atlantic ;  but 
now  the  promise  of  prosperity  induced  ninety  agreeable  per- 
sons, young  and  incorrupt,  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  Sandys, 
and  embark  for  the  colony,  where  they  were  assured  of  a  weL 
come.  They  w^ere  transported  at  the  expense  of  the  com- 
pany, and  w^ere  married  to  its  tenants,  or  to  men  who  were 
able  to  support  them,  and  who  willingly  defrayed  the  costs  of 
their  passage,  which  were  rigorously  demanded.  The  adven- 
ture, which  had  been  in  part  a  mercantile  speculation,  suc- 
ceeded so  well  that  it  was  proposed  to  send  the  next  year 
another  consignment  of  one  hundred ;  but,  before  these  could 
be  collected,  the  company  found  itself  so  poor  that  its  design 
could  be  accomplished  only  by  a  subscription.  After  some 
delays,  sixty  were  actually  despatched,  maids  of  virtuous  edu- 
cation, young,  handsome,  and  well  recommended.  The  price 
rose  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  tobacco,  or  even  more;  so  that  all  the  original 
charges  might  be  repaid.  The  debt  for  a  wife  was  a  debt  of 
honor,  and  took  precedence  of  any  other ;  and  the  company, 
in  conferring  employments,  gave  a  preference  to  married 
men.  With  domestic  ties,  habits  of  thrift  were  formed. 
Within  three  years,  fifty  patents  for  land  were  granted,  and  a 
state  rose  on  solid  foundations  in  the  New  World.  Virginia 
was  a  place  of  refuge  even  for  Puritans. 

Before  Virginia  had  been  planted.  King  James  found  in 
his  hostility  to  the  use  of  tobacco  a  convenient  argument  for 
the  excessive  tax  which  a  royal  ordinance  imposed  on  its  con- 
sumption. When  the  weed  had  become  the  staple  of  Virginia, 
the  sale  of  it  in  England  was  prohibited  unless  the  heavy  im- 
post had  been  paid,  and  a  new  proclamation  forbade  its  culture 
in  England  and  Wales.  In  the  parliament  of  1621  Lord  Coke 
reminded  the  commons  of  the  usurpation  of  authority  on  the 
part  of  the  monarch  who  had  taxed  the  produce  of  the  colonies 
without  their  consent  and  without  an  act  of  the  national  legis- 
lature. 


1621.  VIRGINIA   OBTAINS   CIVIL  LIBERTY.  II7 

Besides  providing  for  emigration,  the  London  company, 
under  the  lead  of  Southampton,  proceeded  to  redress  former 
wrongs,  and  to  protect  colonial  liberty  by  written  guarantees. 
In  the  case  of  the  appeal  to  the  London  company  from  sentence 
of  death  pronounced  by  Argall,  his  friends,  with  the  earl  of 
Warwick  at  their  head,  excused  him  by  pretending  that  mar- 
tial law  is  the  noblest  kind  of  trial,  because  soldiers  and  men 
of  the  sword  were  the  judges.  This  opinion  was  overthrown, 
and  the  right  of  the  colonists  to  trial  by  jury  sustained.  IS'or 
was  it  long  before  the  freedom  of  the  northern  fisheries  was 
equ'ally  asserted,  and  the  monopoly  of  a  rival  corporation  suc- 
cessfully opposed.  Lord  Bacon,  who,  at  the  time  of  IN'ewport's 
first  voyage  with  emigrants  for  Yirginia,  classed  the  enterprise 
with  the  romance  of  "  Amadis  de  Gaul,"  now  said  of  the  plan- 
tation :  "  Certainly  it  is  with  the  kingdoms  of  earth  as  it  is  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  sometimes  a  grain  of  mustard-seed 
proves  a  great  tree.  Who  can  tell  ? "  "  Should  the  plantation 
go  on  increasing  as  under  the  government  of  that  popular 
Lord  Southampton,"  said  Gondomar,  then  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor in  England,  "  my  master's  West  Indies  and  his  Mexico 
will  shortly  be  visited,  by  sea  and  by  land,  from  those  planters 
in  Yirginia." 

The  company  had  silently  approved  the  colonial  assembly 
which  had  been  convened  by  Sir  George  Yeardley ;  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  July,  1621,  a  memorable  ordinance  estab- 
lished for  the  colony  a  written  constitution.  The  prescribed 
form  of  government  was  analogous  to  the  English  constitu- 
tion, and  was,  with  some  modifications,  the  model  of  the  sys- 
tems which  were  afterward  introduced  into  the  various  royal 
provinces.  Its  purpose  was  declared  to  be  "  the  greatest  com- 
fort and  benefit  to  the  people,  and  the  prevention  of  injustice, 
grievances,  and  oppression."  Its  terms  are  few  and  simple : 
a  governor,  to  be  appointed  by  the  company ;  a  permanent 
council,  likewise  to  be  appointed  by  the  company ;  a  general 
assembly,  to  be  convened  yearly,  and  to  consist  of  the  members 
of  the  council,  and  of  two  burgesses  to  be  chosen  from  each  of 
the  several  plantations  by  the  respective  inhabitants.  The 
assembly  might  exercise  full  legislative  authority,  a  negative 
voice  being  reserved  to  the  governor ;  but  no  law  or  ordinance 


118  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,   part  i.  ;  on.  vii. 

would  be  valid  unless  ratified  by  the  company  in  England.  It 
was  further  agreed  that,  after  the  government  of  the  colony 
should  have  once  been  framed,  no  orders  of  the  court  in  Lon- 
don should  bind  the  colony,  unless  they  should  in  like  manner 
be  ratified  by  the  general  assembly.  The  courts  of  justice 
were  required  to  conform  to  the  laws  and  manner  of  trial  used 
in  the  realm  of  England. 

Such  was  the  •  constitution  which  Sir  Francis  Wyatt,  the 
successor  of  the  mild  but  inefiicient  Yeardley,  was  commis- 
sioned to  bear  to  the  colony.  The  system  of  representative 
government  and  trial  by  jury  thus  became  in  the  new  hemi- 
sphere an  acknowledged  right.  On  this  ordinance  Virginia 
erected  the  superstructure  of  her  liberties.  Its  influences 
were  wide  and  enduring,  and  can  be  traced  through  all  her 
history.  It  constituted  the  plantation,  in  its  infancy,  a  nursery 
of  freemen ;  and  succeeding  generations  learned  to  cherish 
institutions  which  were  as  old  as  the  first  period  of  the  pros- 
perity of  their  fathers.  The  privileges  then  conceded  could 
never  be  wrested  from  the  Virginians ;  and,  as  new  colonies 
arose  at  the  south,  their  proprietaries  could  hope  to  win  emi- 
grants only  by  bestowing  franchises  as  large  as  those  enjoyed 
by  their  elder  rival.  The  London  company  merits  the  praise 
of  having  auspicated  liberty  in  America.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  public  act  during  the  reign  of  King  James  was 
of  more  permanent  or  pervading  influence ;  and  it  reflects 
honor  on  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  the  earl  of  Southampton,  I^icho- 
las  Ferrar,  and  the  patriot  royalists  of  England,  that,  though 
they  were  unable  to  establish  guarantees  of  a  liberal  adminis- 
tration at  home,  they  were  careful  to  connect  popular  freedom 
inseparably  with  the  life,  prosperity,  and  state  of  society  of 
Virginia. 


SLAVERY.  119 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

SLAVERY.      DISSOLUTION    OF   THE    LONDON    COMPANY. 

While  Yirginia,  by  the  concession  of  a  representative  gov- 
ernment, was  constituted  the  asylum  of  liberty,  it  became  the 
abode  of  hereditary  bondsmen. 

Slavery  and  the  slave-trade  ure  older  than  the  records  of 
human  society ;  they  are  found" to  have  existed  wherever  the 
savage  hunter  began  to  assume  the  habits  of  pastoral  or  agri- 
cultural life ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Australasia,  they 
have  extended  to  every  portion  of  the  globe.  The  oldest 
monuments  of  human  labor  on  the  Egyptian  soil  are  the  re- 
sults of  -slave  labor.  The  founder  of  the  Jewish  people  was 
a  slave-holder  and  a  purchaser  of  slaves.  The  Hebrews,  when 
they  broke  from  their  own  thraldom,  planted  slavery  in  the 
promised  land.  Tyre,  the  oldest  commercial  city  of  Phoeni- 
cia, was,  like  Babylon,  a  market  "  for  the  persons  of  men." 

Old  as  are  the  traditions  of  Greece,  slavery  is  older.  The 
wrath  of  Achilles  grew  out  of  a  ^[uarrel  for  a  slave ;  Grecian 
dames  had  servile  attendants ;  the  heroes  before  Troy  made 
excursions  into  the  neighboring  villages  and  towns  to  enslave 
the  inhabitants.  Greek  pirates,  roving,  like  the  corsairs  of 
Barbary,  in  quest  of  men,  laid  the  foundations  of  Greek  com- 
merce; each  commercial  town  was  a  slave-mart;  and  every 
cottage  near  the  sea-side  was  in  danger  from  the  kidnap- 
per. Greeks  enslaved  each  other.  The  language  of  Homer 
was  the  mother  tongue  of  the  Helots ;  the  Grecian  city  that 
warred  on  its  neighbor  city  made  of  its  captives  a  source 
of  profit ;  the  hero  of  Macedon  sold  men  of  his  own  kindred 
and  language  into  hopeless  slavery.  More  than  four  centu- 
ries before  the  Christian  era,  Alcidamas,  a  pupil  of  Gorgias, 


XSiO  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  m  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  vm. 

taught  that  ''God  lias  sent  forth  all  men  free;  nature  has 
made  no  man  slave."  While  one  class  of  Greek  authors  of 
that  period  confounded  the  authority  of  master  and  head  of 
a  family,  others  asserted  that  the  relation  of  master  and  slave 
is  conventional;  that  freedom  is  the  law  of  nature,  which 
knows  no  difference  between  master  and  slave ;  that  slavery 
is  the  child  of  violence,  and  inherently  unjust.  "  A  man,  O 
my  master,"  so  speaks  the  slave  in  a  comedy  of  Philemon, 
"  because  he  is  a  slave,  does  not  cease  to  be  a  man.  He  is  of 
the  same  flesh  with  you.  Nature  makes  no  slaves."  Aris- 
totle, though  he  recognises  "  living  chattels  "  as  a  part  of  the 
complete  family,  has  left  on  record  his  most  deliberate  judg- 
ment, that  the  prize  of  freedom  should  be  placed  within  the 
reach  of  every  slave.  Yet  the  idea  of  universal  free  labor 
was  only  a  dormant  bud,  not  to  be  quickened  for  many  cen- 
turies. 

Slavery  hastened  the  fall  of  the  commonwealth  of  Eome. 
The  power  of  the  father  to  sell  his  children,  of  the  creditor  to 
sell  his  insolvent  debtor,  of  the  warrior  to  sell  his  captive,  car- 
ried it  into  the  bosom  of  every  family,  into  the  conditions 
of  every  contract,  into  the  heart  of  every  unhappy  land  that 
was  invaded  by  the  Koman  eagle.  The  slave-markets  of  Rome 
were  filled  with  men  of  various  nations  and  colors.  "  Slaves 
are  they !  "  writes  Seneca ;  "  say  that  they  are  men."  The 
golden-mouthed  orator  Dion  inveighs  against  hereditary  sla- 
very as  at  war  with  right.  "  Bj  the  law  of  nature,  all  men  are 
bom  free,"  are  the  words  of  Ulpian.  The  Roman  digests  pro- 
nounce slavery  "  contrary  to  nature." 

In  the  middle  age  the  pirate  and  the  kidnapper  and  the 
conqueror  still  continued  the  slave-trade.  The  Saxon' race  car- 
ried the  most  repulsive  forms  of  slavery  to  England,  where  not 
half  the  population  could  assert  a  right  to  freedom,  and  where 
the  price  of  a  man  was  but  four  times  the  price  of  an  ox.  In 
defiance  of  severe  penalties,  the  Saxons  long  continued  to  sell 
their  own  kindred  into  slavery  on  the  continent.  Even  after 
the  conquest,  slaves  were  exported  from  England  to  Ireland, 
till,  in  1102,  a  national  synod  of  the  Irish,  to  remove  the  pre- 
text for  an  invasion,  decreed  the  emancipation  of  all  their 
English  slaves. 


1300-1400.  SLAVERY.  121 

The  German  nations  made  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  the 
scenes  of  the  same  traffic ;  and  the  Dnieper  formed  the  high- 
way on  which  Russian  merchants  conveyed  slaves  from  the 
markets  of  Russia  to  Constantinople.  The  wretched  often 
submitted  to  bondage  as  the  only  refuge  from  want.  But  it 
was  the  long  wars  between  German  and  Slavonic  tribes  which 
imparted  to  the  slave-trade  so  great  activity  that  in  every 
country  of  Western  Europe  the  whole  class  of  bondmen  took 
and  still  retain  the  name  of  Slaves. 

In  Sicily,  natives  of  Asia  and  Africa  were  exposed  for 
sale.  From  extreme  poverty  the  Arab  father  would  pawn 
even  his  children  to  the  Italian  merchant.  Rome  itself  long 
remained  a  mart  where  Christian  slaves  were  exposed  for  sale, 
to  supply  the  market  of  Mahometans.  The  Venetians  pur- 
chased alike  infidels  and  Christians,  and  sold  them  again  to 
the  Arabs  in  Sicily  and  Spain.  Christian  and  Jewish  avarice 
supplied  the  slave-market  of  the  Saracens.  The  trade,  though 
censured  by  the  church  and  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  Venice, 
was  not  effectually  checked  till  the  mere  presence  in  a  Vene- 
tian ship  was  made  the  sufficient  evidence  of  freedom. 

In  the  twelfth  century.  Pope  Alexander  III.  had  written 
that,  "  nature  having  made  no  slaves,  all  men  have  an  equal 
right  to  liberty."  Yet,  as  among  Mahometans  the  captive 
Christian  had  no  alternative  but  apostasy  or  servitude,  the 
captive  infidel  was  treated  in  Christendom  with  corresponding 
intolerance.  In  the  camp  of  the  leader  whose  pious  arms  re- 
deemed the  sepulchre  of  Christ  from  the  mixed  nations  of 
Asia  and  Libya,  the  price  of  a  war-horse  was  three  slaves. 
The  Turks,  whose  law  forbade  the  enslaving  of  MussuMans, 
continued  to  sell  Christian  and  other  captives ;  and  Smith,  the 
third  president  of  Virginia,  relates  that  he  was  himself  a  run- 
away from  Turkish  bondage. 

All  this  might  have  had  no  influence  on  the  destinies  of 
America  but  for  the  long  and  doubtful  struggles  between 
Christians  and  Moors  in  the  west  of  Europe,  where,  for  more 
than  seven  centuries,  the  two  religions  were,  arrayed  against 
each  other,  and  bondage  was  the  reciprocal  doom  of  the  cap- 
tive. France  and  Italy  were  filled  with  Saracen  slaves ;  the 
number  of  them  sold   into  Christian  bondage  exceeded  the 

VOL.  I. — 10 


122  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  viii. 

number  of  all  the  Christians  ever  sold  by  the  pirates  of  Bar- 
bary.  The  clergy  felt  no  sympathy  for  the  unbeliever.  The 
final  victory  of  the  Spaniards  over  the  Moors  of  Granada,  an 
event  contemporary  with  the  discovery  of  America,  was  sig- 
nalized by  a  great  emigration  of  the  Moors  to  the  coasts  of 
I^orthern  Africa,  where  each  mercantile  city  became  a  nest 
of  pirates,  and  every  Christian  the  wonted  booty  of  the  cor- 
sair :  an  indiscriminate  and  retaliating  bigotry  gave  to  all 
Africans  the  denomination  of  Moors,  and  without  scruple  re- 
duced them  to  bondage. 

The  clergy  had  broken  up  the  Christian  slave-markets  at 
Bristol  and  at  Hamburg,  at  Lyons  and  at  Rome.  In  language 
addressed  half  to  the  courts  of  law  and  half  to  the  people, 
Louis  X.,  by  the  advice  of  the  jurists  of  France,  in  July,  1315, 
published  the  ordinance  that,  by  the  law  of  nature,  every  man 
ought  to  be  born  free  ;  that  serfs  were  held  in  bondage  only 
by  a  suspension  of  their  early  and  natural  rights  ;  that  liberty 
should  be  restored  to  them  throughout  the  kingdom  so  far  as 
the  royal  power  extended ;  and  every  master  of  slaves  was  in- 
vited to  follow  his  example  by  bringing  them  all  back  to  their 
original  state  of  freedom.  Some  years  later,  John  de  Wycliffe 
asserted  the  unchristian  character  of  slavery.  At  the  epoch  of 
the  discovery  of  America  the  moral  opinion  of  the  civilized 
world  had  abolished  the  trade  in  Christian  slaves,  and  was 
demanding  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs ;  but  the  infidel  was 
not  yet  included  within  the  pale  of  humanity. 

Yet  negro  slavery  is  not  an  invention  of  the  white  man. 
As  Greeks  enslaved  Greeks,  as  Anglo-Saxons  dealt-  in  Anglo- 
Saxons,  so  the  earliest  accounts  of  the  land  of  the  black  men 
bear  witness  that  negro  masters  held  men  of/their  own  race 
as  slaves,  and  sold  them  to  others.  This  tne  oldest  Greek 
historian  commemorates.  ITegro  slaves  weife  seen  in  classic 
Greece,  and  were  known  at  Home  and  in  the  Roman  empire. 
About  the  year  990,  Moorish  merchants  from  the  Barbary 
coast  reached  the  cities  of  Xigritia,  and  established  an  unin- 
terrupted exchange  of  Saracen  and  European  luxuries  for  the 
gold  and  slaves  of  Central  Africa. 

Kot  long  after  the  conquests  of  the  Portuguesejn  Barbary, 
their  navy  frequented  the  ports  of  Western  Africa ;  and  the 


1441-1518.  SLAVERY.  123 

first  ships,  which,  in  1441,  sailed  so  far  south  as  Cape  Blanco, 
returned  not  with  negroes,  but  with  Moors.  These  were  treated 
as  strangers,  from  whom  information  respecting  their  native 
country  was  to  be  derived.  Antony  Gonzalez,  who  had  brought 
them  to  Portugal,  was  commanded  to  restore  them  to  their 
ancient  homes.  He  did  so ;  and  the  Moors  gave  him  as  their 
ransom  not  gold  only,  but  "black  Moors"  with  curled  hair. 
Negro  slaves  immediately  became  an  object  of  commerce. 
The  historian  of  the  maritime  discoveries  of  Spain  even  claims 
that  she  anticipated  the  Portuguese.  The  merchants  of  Seville 
imported  gold  dust  and  slaves  from  the  western  coast  of  Afri- 
ca; so  that  negro  slavery  was  established  in  Andalusia,  and 
"  abounded  in  the  city  of  Seville,"  before  the  first  voyage  of 
Columbus. 

The  adventurers  of  those  days  by  sea,  joining  the  creed 
of  bigots  with  the  designs  of  pirates  and  heroes,  esteemed 
as  their  rightful  plunder  the  wealth  of  the  countries  which 
they  might  discover,  and  the  inhabitants,  if  Christians,  as  their 
subjects ;  if  infidels,  as  their  slaves.  There  was  hardly  a  con- 
venient harbor  on  the  Atlantic  frontier  of  the  United  States 
which  was  not  entered  by  slavers.  The  red  men  of  the  wilder- 
ness, unlike  the  Africans,  among  whom  slavery  had  existed  from 
immemorial  time,  would  never  abet  the  foreign  merchant  in 
the  nefarious  trafiic.  Fraud  and  force  remained,  therefore,  the 
means  by  which,  near  Newfoundland  or  Florida,  on  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic,  or  among  the  Indians  of  the  Mississippi  val- 
ley, Cortereal  and  Yasquez  de  Ayllon,  Porcallo  and  Soto,  and 
private  adventurers,  transported  the  natives  of  North  America 
into  slavery  in  Europe  and  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  Colum- 
bus himself,  in  1494,  enslaving  five  hundred  native  Americans, 
sent  them  to  Spain,  that  they  might  be  publicly  sold  at  Seville. 
The  generous  Isabella,  in  1500,  commanded  the  liberation  of 
the  Indians  held  in  bondage  in  her  European  possessions.  Yet 
her  active  benevolence  extended  neither  to  the  Moors  nor  to 
the  Africans;  and  even  her  compassion  for  the  men  of  the 
New  World  was  but  transient.  The  commissions  for  making 
discoveries,  issued  a  few  days  before  and  after  her  interference 
to  rescue  those  whom  Columbus  had  enslaved,  reserved  for 
herself  and  Ferdinand  a  fourth  part  of  the  slaves  which  the 


124  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  viii. 

new  kingdoms  might  contain.      The  slavery  of  Indians  was 
recognised  as  lawful. 

A  royal  edict  of  1501  permitted  negro  slaves,  born  in 
slavery  among  Christians,  to  be  transported.  Within  two 
years  there  were  such  numbers  of  Africans  in  Hispaniola  that 
Ovando,  the  governor  of  the  island,  entreated  that  their  com- 
ing might  be  restrained.  For  a  short  time  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment forbade  the  introduction  of  negro  slaves  who  had 
been  bred  in  Moorish  families,  and  allowed  only  those  who 
were  said  to  have  been  instructed  in  the  Christian  faith  to  be 
transported  to  the  "West  Indies,  under  the  plea  that  thiey  might 
assist  in  converting  infidel  nations.  But,  after  the  culture  of 
sugar  was  begun,  the  system  of  slavery  easily  overcame  the 
scruples  of  men  in  power.  King  Ferdinand  himself  sent  frord 
Seville  fifty  slaves  to  labor  in  the  mines,  and  promised  to  send 
more ;  and,  because  it  was  said  that  one  negro  could  do  the 
work  of  four  Indians,  the  direct  transportation  of  slaves  from 
Guinea  to  Hispaniola  was,  in  1511,  enjoined  by  a  royal  ordi- 
nance, and  deliberately  sanctioned  by  successive  decrees.  Was 
it  not  natural  that  Charles  V.,  a  youthful  monarch,  at  his  ac- 
cession in  1516,  should  have  readily  granted  licenses  to  the 
Flemings  to  transport  negroes  to  the  colonies  ?  The  benevo- 
lent Las  Casas,  who  felt  for  the  native  inhabitants  of  the 
'New  World  all  that  the  purest  missionary  zeal  could  inspire, 
and  who  had  seen  them  vanish  away  like  dew  before  the  cruel- 
ties of  the  Spaniards  while  the  African  thrived  under  the  tropi- 
cal sun,  in  1517  suggested  that  negroes  might  still  further  be 
employed  to  perform  the  severe  toils  which  they  alone  could 
endure.  The  board  of  trade  at  Seville  was  consulted,  to  learn 
how  many  slaves  would  be  required ;  four  for  each  Spanish 
emigrant  had  been  proposed ;  deliberate  calculation  fixed  the 
number  at  four  thousand  a  year.  In  1518  the  monopoly,  for 
eight  years,  of  annually  importing  four  thousand  slaves  into 
the  West  Indies,  was  granted  by  Charles  Y.  to  La  Bresa,  one 
of  his  favorites,  and  was  sold  to  the  Genoese.  The  buyers 
of  the  contract  purchased  their  slaves  of  the  Portuguese,  to 
whom  a  series  of  papal  bulls  had  indeed  granted  the  ex- 
clusive commerce  with  Western  Africa ;  but  the  slave-trade 
between  Africa  and  America  was  never  expressly  sanctioned 


1518-1621.  SLAVERY.  ^  125 

by  the  see  of  Rome.  Leo  X.  declared  tliat  "  not  the  Chris- 
tian religion  only,  but  Nature  herself,  cries  out  against  the 
state  of  slavery."  Paul  III.,  two  years  after  he  had  given  au- 
thority to  make  slaves  of  every  English  person  who  would 
not  assist  in  the  expulsion  of  Henry  YIII.,  in  two  separate 
briefs  imprecated  a  curse  on  the  Europeans  who  should  en- 
slave Indians,  or  any  other  class  of  men.  Ximenes,  the  stern 
grand  inquisitor,  the  austere  but  ambitious  Franciscan,  re- 
fused to  sanction  the  introduction  of  negroes  into  Hispaniola, 
believing  that  the  favorable  climate  would  increase  their  num- 
bers, and  infallibly  lead  them  to  a  successful  revolt.  Hayti, 
the  first  spot  in  America  that  received  African  slaves,  was 
the  first  to  set  the  example  of  African  liberty. 

The  odious  distinction  of  having  first  interested  England 
in  the  slave-trade  belongs  to  Sir  John  Hawkins.  In  1562,  he  / 
transported  a  large  cargo  of  Africans  to  Hispaniola ;  the  rich 
returns  of  sugar,  ginger,  and  pearls,  attracted  the  notice  of 
Queen  Elizabeth;  and  five  years  later  she  took  shares  ii/  a 
new  expedition,  though  the  commerce,  on  the  part  of  the  E^ng- 
lish,  in  Spanish  ports,  was  by  the  law  of  Spain  illicit,  as  well 
as  by  the  law  of  morals  detestable. 

Conditional  servitude,  under  indentures  or  covenants,  had 
from  the  first  existed  in  Yirginia.  Once  at  least  James  sent 
over  convicts,  and  once  at  least  the  city  of  London  a  hundred 
homeless  childrei^i  from  its  streets.  The  servant  stood  to  his 
niaSer  in  the  delation  of  a  debtor,  bound  to  discharge  by  his 
labor  the  costs  of  emigration.  White  servants  came  to  be  a 
usual  article  of  merchandise.  They  were  sold  in  England  to 
be  transported,  and  in  Virginia  were  to  be  purchased  on  ship- 
board. Not  the  Scots  only,  who  were  taken  in  the  field  of  ^ 
Dunbar,  were  sold  into  servitude  in  New  England,  but  the 
royalist  prisoners  of  the  battle  of  Worcester.  The  leaders  in 
the  insurrection  of  Penruddoc,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrance 
of  Haselrig  and  Henry  Yane,  were  shipped  to  America.  At 
the  corresponding  period,  in  Ireland,  the  exportation  of  Irish 
Catholics  was  frequent.  In  1672,  the  average  price  in  the 
colonies,  where  five  years  of  service  were  due,  was  about  ten 
pounds,  while  a  negro  was  worth  twenty  or  twenty-five  pounds. 

The  condition  of  apprenticed  servants  in  Yirginia  differed 


126  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     past  i.  ;  ch.  vm. 

from  that  of  slaves  chiefly  in  the  duration  of  their  bondage ; 
the  laws  of  the  colony  favored  their  early  enfranchisement. 
But  this  state  of  labor  easily  admitted  the  introduction  of  per- 
petual servitude.  In  the  month  of  August,  1619,  five  years 
after  the  commons  of  France  had  petitioned  for  the  emanci- 
pation of  every  serf  in  every  fief,  a  Dutch  man-of-war  entered 
James  river  and  landed  twenty  negroes  for  sale.  This  is  the 
sad  epoch  of  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery ;  but  the  traf- 
fic would  have  been  checked  in  its  infancy  had  it  remained 
with  the  Dutch.  Thirty  years  after  this  first  importation  of 
Africans,  Virginia  to  one  black  contained  fifty  whites ;  and, 
after  seventy  years  of  its  colonial  existence,  the  number  of 
its  negro  slaves  was  proportionably  much  less  than  in  several 
northern  states  at  the  time  of  the  war  of  independence.  Had 
no  other  form  of  servitude  been  known  in  Virginia  than  of 
men  of  the  same  race,  every  difficulty  would  have  been 
promptly  obviated.  But  the  Ethiopian  and  Caucasian  races 
were  to  meet  together  in  nearly  equal  numbers  beneath  a  tem- 
perate zone.  Who  could  foretell  the  issue  ?  The  negro  race, 
from  its  introduction,  was  regarded  with  disgust,  and  its 
union  with  the  whites  forbidden  under  ignominious  penalties. 
If  Wyatt,  on  his  arrival  in  Virginia  in  1621,  found  the 
evil  of  negro  slavery  engrafted  on  the  social  system,  he  brought 
with  him  the  memorable  ordinance  on  which  the  fabric  of 
colonial  liberty  was  to  rest,  and  which  was  interpreted  by  his 
instructions  in  a  manner  favorable  to  the  colonists.  An  am- 
nesty of  ancient  feuds  was  proclaimed.  In  N^ovember  and 
December,  1621,  the  first  session  of  an  assembly  under  the 
written  constitution  was  held.  The  production  of  silk  en- 
gaged attention ;  but  silk- worms  could  not  be  cared  for  where 
every  comfort  of  household  existence  required  to  be  created. 
As  little  was  the  successful  culture  of  the  vine  possible,  al- 
though the  company  had  repeatedly  sent  vine-dressers.  In 
1621,  the  seeds  of  cotton  were  planted  as  an  experiment ;  and 
their  ^'  plentiful  coming  up "  was  a  subject  of  interest  in 
America  and  England.  From  this  year,  too,  dates  the  send- 
ing of  beehives  to  Virginia,  and  of  skilful  workmen  to  ex- 
tract iron  from  the  ore.  At  the  instance  of  George  Sandys, 
five-and-twenty  shipwrights  came  over  in  1622. 


1622.  SLAVERY.  127 

Kor  did  the  company  neglect  education  and  religious  wor- 
Bliip.  The  bishop  of  London  collected  and  paid  a  thousand 
pounds  toward  a  university,  which,  like  the  several  churches 
of  the  colony,  was  liberally  endowed  with  domains,  and  fos- 
tered by  public  and  private  charity.  But  the  plan  of  obtain- 
ing for  them  a  revenue  through  a  permanent  tenantry  could 
meet  with  no  success  where  freeholds  were  so  easily  obtained. 
"  Needless  novelties  "  in  the  forms  of  worship  were  prohibited 
by  an  instruction  from  England. 

Between  the  Indians  and  the  English  there  had  been 
quarrels,  but  no  wars.  From  the  first  the  power  of  the  na- 
tives had  been  despised ;  their  strongest  weapons  were  such 
arrows  as  they  could  shape  without  the  use  of  iron,  such 
hatchets  as  could  be  made  from  stone ;  and  an  English  mas- 
tiff seemed  to  them  a  terrible  adversary.  Within  sixty 
miles  of  Jamestown,  it  is  computed,  there  were  no  more 
than  five  thousand  souls,  or  about  fifteen  hundred  warriors. 
The  rule  of  Powhatan  comprehended  about  eight  thousand 
square  miles,  thirty  tribes,  and  twenty-four  hundred  warriors. 
The  natives  dwelt  in  hamlets,  with  from  forty  to  sixty  in  each 
household.  Few  assemblages  of  wigwams  contained  more  than 
two  hundred  persons.  It  was  unusual  for  any  large  portion 
of  these  tribes  to  meet  together.  They  were  regarded  with 
contempt  or  compassion.  No  uniform  care  had  been  taken  to 
conciliate  their  good-will,  although  their  condition  had  been 
improved  by  some  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  When  Wyatt 
arrived,  he  assured  them  of  his  wish  to  preserve  inviolable 
peace.  An  old  law,  which  made  death  the  penalty  for  teach- 
ing the  Indians  to  use  a  musket,  was  forgotten,  and  they  were 
employed  as  fowlers  and  huntsmen.  The  plantations  of  the 
English  were  extended  for  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  on 
both  sides  of  the  James  river  and  toward  the  Potomac,  wher- 
ever rich  grounds  invited  to  the  culture  of  tobacco. 

Powhatan,  the  friend  of  the  English,  died  in  1618 ;  and 
his  brother  was  the  heir  to  his  influence.  By  this  time  the 
natives  were  near  being  driven  "  to  seek  a  stranger  countrie ; " 
to  save  their  ancient  dwelling-places,  it  seemed  to  them  that 
the  English  must  be  exterminated.  On  the  twenty-second  of 
March,  1622,  at  mid-day,  they  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  pop- 


128  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     paet  i.;  oh.  vm. 

ulation  ;  children  and  women,  as  well  as  men,  the  missionary, 
the  benefactor — all  were  slain  with  every  aggravation  of  cruel- 
ty. In  one  hour  three  hundred  and  forty-seven  persons  were 
cut  off.  The  night  before  the  execution  of  the  conspiracy  it 
had  been  revealed  by  a  converted  Indian  to  an  Englishman 
whom  he  wished  to  rescue  ;  Jamestown  and  the  nearest  settle- 
ments were  prepared  against  the  attack ;  the  savages,  as  timid 
as  they  were  ferocious,  fled  at  the  appearance  of  wakeful 
resistance ;  and  the  larger  part  of  the  colony  was  saved. 

But  pubhc  works  were  abandoned,  and  the  settlements 
reduced  from  eighty  plantations  to  less  than  eight.  Sickness 
prevailed  among  the  dispirited  survivors,  who  were  crowded 
into  narrow  quarters  ;  some  returned  to  their  mother  country. 
The  number  of  inhabitants  had  exceeded  four  thousand;  a 
year  after  the  massacre  there  remained  only  two  thousand  five 
hundred. 

The  blood  of  the  victims  became  the  nurture  of  the  plan- 
tation. Even  Xing  James,  for  a  moment,  affected  generosity ; 
gave  from  the  Tower  of  London  arms  which  had  been  thrown 
by  as  good  for  nothing  in  Europe ;  and  made  fair  promises, 
which  were  never  fulfilled.  The  city  of  London  and  many 
private  persons  displayed  hearty  liberality.  The  London 
company,  which  in  May,  1622,  had  elected  l^icholas  Ferrar  to 
be  Lord  Southampton's  deputy,  "  redoubled  their  courages,'' 
and  urged  the  Virginians  not  to  change  their  abode,  nor  ap- 
ply all  their  thoughts  to  staple  commodities,  but  "  to  embel- 
lish the  Sparta  upon  which  they  had  lighted."  While  they 
bade  them  "not  to  rely  upon  anything  but  themselves," 
they  yet  promised  "  that  there  should  not  be  left  any  meanes 
unat tempted  on  their  part."  They  announced  their  purpose 
of  sending,  before  the  next  spring,  four  hundred  young  men, 
well  furnished,  out  of  England  and  "Wales ;  and  that  private 
undertakers  had  engaged  to  take  over  many  hundreds  more. 
As  to  the  Indians,  they  wrote :  "  The  innocent  blood  of  so 
many  Christians  doth  in  justice  cry  out  for  revenge.  We 
must  advise  you  to  root  out  a  people  so  cursed,  at  least  to 
the  removal  of  them  far  from  you.  Wherefore,  as  they  have 
'merited,  let  them  have  a  perpetual  war  without  peace  or  truce, 
and  without  mercy  too.     Put  in  execution  all  ways  and  means 


1622-1623.     DISSOLUTION   OF  THE  LONDON   COMPANY.      129 

for  their  destruction,  not  omitting  to  reward  tlieir  neighboring 
enemies  upon  the  bringing  in  of  their  heads." 

The  arrival  of  these  instructions  found  the  Virginians 
already  involved  in  a  war  of  extermination.  First  in  the  field 
was  George  Sandys,  the  colonial  treasurer,  who  headed  two 
expeditions ;  next,  Yeardley,  the  governor,  invaded  the  towns 
of  Opechancanough ;  Captain  Madison  entered  the  Potomac. 
The  Indians  promptly  fled  on  indications  of  watchfulness  and 
resistance ;  but  the  midnight  surprise,  the  ambuscade  by  day, 
might  be  feared ;  and  they  proved  to.  be  "  an  enemy  not  sud- 
denly to  be  destroyed  with  the  sword,  by  reason  of  their  swift- 
ness of  foot,  and  advantages  of  the  wood  to  which  upon  all 
assaults  they  retired." 

In  July,  1623,  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  settlements, 
in  parties,  under  commissioned  officers,  fell  upon  the  adjoin- 
ing savages ;  and  a  law  of  the  general  assembly  commanded 
that  in  July  of  1624  the  attack  should  be  repeated.  Six  years 
later,  the  colonial  statute-book  proves  that  ruthless  schemes 
were  still  meditated  ;  for  it  was  enacted  that  no  peace  should 
be  concluded  with  the  Indians — a  law  which  remained  in  force 
for  two  years. 

Meantime,  a  change  was  preparing  in  the  relations  of  the 
colony  with  the  parent  state.  The  earl  of  Southampton  and 
his  friends  gave  their  services  freely,  having  no  motive  but 
the  advancement  of  the  plantation ;  the  adherents  of  the  for- 
mer treasurer,  among  whom  Argall  was  conspicuous,  under 
the  lead  of  the  earl  of  Warwick,  constituted  a  relentless  fac- 
tion. As  the  shares  in  the  stock  were  of  little  value,  the  con- 
tests were  chiefly  for  the  direction,  and  were  not  so  much  the 
wranglings  of  disappointed  merchants  as  the  conflict  of  politi- 
cal parties.  The  meetings  of  the  company,  which  now  con- 
sisted of  a  thousand  adventurers,  of  whom  two  hundred  or 
more  usually  appeared  at  the  quarter  courts,  were  the  scenes 
for  freedom  of  debate,  where  the  patriots,  who  in  parliament 
advocated  the  cause  of  liberty,  triumphantly  opposed  the 
decrees  of  the  privy  council  on  subjects  connected  with  the 
rights  of  Virginia.  The  unsuccessful  party  sought  an  ally  in 
the  king,  who  desired  to  recover  the  authority  of  which  he 
had  deprived  himself  by  a  charter  of  his  own  concession. 


130  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  m  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  oh.  vni. 

Moreover,  Gondomar,  the  Spanish  envoy,  said  to  him  :  ^'  The 
Virginia  courts  are  but  a  seminary  to  a  seditious  parliament." 
Besides,  he  was  haunted  by  a  passion  to  wed  his  eldest  sur- 
viving son  to  a  princess  of  the  house  of  Spain,  and  therefore 
courted  the  favor  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  even  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  an  English  colony. 

Unable  to  get  the  control  of  the  company  by  overawing 
their  assemblies,  the  monarch  resolved  upon  the  sequestration 
of  the  patent ;  and  raised  no  other  question  than  how  the  law 
of  England  could  most  plausibly  be  made  the  instrument  of 
tyranny.  An  allegation  of  grievances,  set  forth  by  the  roy- 
alist faction  in  a  petition  to  the  king,  was,  in  May,  1623, 
fully  refuted  by  the  company,  and  the  ground  of  discontent 
was  answered  by  an  explanatory  declaration.  Yet  commis- 
sioners were  appointed  to  engage  in  a  general  investigation  of 
the  concerns  of  the  corporation ;  the  records  were  seized,  the 
deputy  treasurer  imprisoned,  and  private  letters  from  Virginia 
intercepted  for  inspection.  Captain  John  Smith  was  particu- 
larly examined ;  his  honest  answers  exposed  the  defective  ar- 
rangements of  previous  years,  and  he  favored  the  cancelling 
of  the  charter  as  an  act  of  benevolence  to  the  colony. 

To  the  Virginia  quarter  court,  held  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
June  for  the  annual  election,  James  sent  a  very  short  letter, 
in  which  he  said  :  "  Our  will  and  pleasure  is  that  you  do  for- 
bear the  election  of  any  officers  until  to-morrow  fortnight  at 
the  soonest,  but  let  those  that  be  already  remain  as  they  are 
in  the  mean  time."  The  reading  of  the  letter  was  followed 
by  a  long  and  general  silence,  after  which  it  was  voted  that 
the  present  officers  should  be  continued  because,  by  the  ex- 
press words  of  their  charter,  choice  could  be  made  only  at  a 
quarter  court. 

The  king,  enraged  at  the  company,  held  the  citing  of  their 
charter  as  a  mere  pretext  to  thwart  his  command ;  and  on  the 
last  day  of  July  the  attorney-general,  to  whom  the  conduct  of 
the  company  was  referred,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  king 
might  justly  resume  the  government  of  Virginia,  and,  should 
they  not  voluntarily  yield,  could  call  in  their  patent  by  legal 
proceedings.  In  pursuance  of  this  advice,  the  king,  in  Octo- 
ber, by  an  order  in  council,  made  known  to  the  company  that 


1023-1624.    DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  LONDON  COMPANY.      131 

the  disasters  of  Yirginia  were  a  consequence  of  their  ill  gov- 
ernment ;  that  he  had  resolved,  by  a  new  charter,  to  reserve  to 
himself  the  appointment  of  the  oflScers  in  England,  a  negative 
on  appointments  in  Yirginia,  and  the  supreme  control  of  all 
colonial  affairs.  Private  interests  were  to  be  sacredly  pre- 
served, and  all  grants  of  land  to  be  renewed  and  confirmed. 
Should  the  company  resist  the  change,  its  patent  would  be  re- 
called. This  was  in  substance  a  proposition  to  revert  to  the 
charter  originally  granted. 

On  the  seventeenth  the  order  was  read  to  the  Yirginia 
company  in  court  three  several  times ;  after  the  reading,  for  a 
long  while  no  man  spoke  a  word.  They  then  desired  a  month's 
delay,  that  all  their  members  might  take  part  in  the  final  de- 
cision. The  privy  council  peremptorily  summoned  them  to 
appear  before  it  and  make  their  answer  at  the  end  of  three 
days.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  surrender  of  the 
charter  was  refused  by  a  vote  of  threescore  against  nine. 

But  the  decision  of  the  king  was  already  taken ;  and,  on 
the  twenty-fourth,  commissioners  were  appointed  to  proceed 
to  Yirginia  and  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  plantation.  John 
Harvey  and  Samuel  Matthews,  both  distinguished  in  the  annals 
of  Yirginia,  were  of  the  committee. 

On  the  tenth  of  November  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  was 
issued  against  the  company.  On  the  nineteenth,  the  next 
quarter  court,  the  adventurers,  seven  only  opposing,  confirmed 
the  former  refusal  to  surrender  the  charter,  and  made  prepara- 
tions for  defence.  For  that  purpose,  their  papers  were  for  a 
season  restored ;  certified  copies  of  them,  made  by  the  care  and 
at  the  expense  of  Nicholas  Ferrar,  are  now  in  the  library  of 
congress. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  England,  the  com- 
missioners, early  in  1624,  arrived  in  the  colony.  The  general 
assembly  was  immediately  convened.  The  company  had  re- 
futed the  allegations  of  King  James,  as  opposed  to  their  inter- 
ests ;  the  colonists  replied  to  them,  as  contrary  to  their  honor 
and  good  name.  The  principal  prayer  was,  that  the  governors 
might  not  have  absolute  power ;  and  that  the  liberty  of  popu- 
lar assemblies  might  be  retained ;  "  for,"  say  they,  "  nothing 
can  conduce  more  to  the  public  satisfaction  and  the  public 


132  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  yiii. 

utility."  In  support  of  this  solicitation,  an  agent  was  appointed 
to  repair  to  England ;  and,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  mis- 
sion, a  tax  of  four  pounds  of  the  best  tobacco  was  levied  upon 
every  male  who  was  above  sixteen  years  and  had  been  in  the 
colony  a  twelvemonth.  The  commissioner  unfortunately  died 
on  his  passage  to  Europe.  The  colony  continued  to  entreat 
the  king  not  to  give  credit  to  the  declarations  in  favor  of  the 
truly  miserable  years  of  Sir  Thomas  Smythe's  government, 
and  to  repel  the  imputations  on  that  of  Southampton  and 
Ferrar  as  malicious.  ^ 

In  vain  was  it  attempted,  by  means  of  intimidation  and 
promises  of  royal  favor,  to  obtain  a  petition  for  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  charter.  Under  that  charter  the  assembly  was 
itself  convened  ;  and,  after  prudently  rejecting  a  proposition 
which  might  have  endangered  its  own  existence,  it  proceeded 
to  memorable  acts  of  independent  legislation. 

The  rights  of  property  were  strictly  maintained  against  ar- 
bitrary taxation. .  "  The  governor  shall  not  lay  any  taxes  or 
ympositions  upon  the  colony,  their  lands  or  commodities,  other 
way  than  by  the  authority  of  the  general  assembly,  to  be  levyed 
and  ymployed  as  the  said  assembly  shall  appoynt."  Yirginia, 
the  oldest  colony,  set  the  great  example  of  a  just  and  firm  legis- 
lation on  the  management  of  the  public  money.  The  rights  of 
personal  liberty  were  asserted,  and  the  power  of  the  executive 
circumscribed.  The  several  governors  had  in  vain  attempted, 
by  penal  statutes,  to  promote  the  culture  of  corn ;  the  true 
remedy  was  now  discovered  by  the  colonial  legislature. 
"  For  the  encouragement  of  men  to  plant  store  of  corn,  the 
price  shall  not  be  stinted,  but  it  shall  be  free  for  every  man  to 
sell  it  as  deare  as  he  can."  The  reports  of  controversies  in 
England  rendered  it  necessary  to  provide  for  the  public  tran- 
quillity by  an  express  enactment  "  that  no  person  within  the 
colony,  upon  the  rumor  of  supposed  change  and  alteration,  pre- 
sume to  be  disobedient  to  the  present  government."  These 
laws,  so  judiciously  framed,  show  how  readily,  with  the  aid  of 
free  discussion,  men  become  good  legislators  on  their  own  con- 
cerns. 

While  the  royal  London  commissioners  were  urging  the 
Yirginians  to  renounce  their  right  to  the  privileges  which  they 


1624-1625.    DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  LONDON  COMPANY.      133 

exercised  so  well,  the  English  parliament  was  in  session ;  and 
a  gleam  of  hope  revived  in  the  company,  as  in  April,  1624, 
Ferrar  presented  their  elaborate  petition  for  redress  to  the 
grand  inquest  of  the  kingdom.  The  house  of  commons  took 
up  the  business  reluctantly,  and  appointed  the  twenty-eighth 
of  April  for  its  consideration.  But  on  that  day,  before 
any  progress  was  made,  there  came  a  letter  from  the  king : 
"  That  he  both  already  had,  and  would  also  hereafter  take  the 
affair  of  the  Virginia  company  into  his  own  most  serious  con- 
sideration and  care ;  and  that,  by  the  next  parliament,  they 
should  all  see  he  would  make  it  one  of  his  masterpieces,  as  it 
well  deserved  to  be."  The  house  assented  by  a  general  si- 
lence, "  but  not  without  soft  muttering  that  any  other  busi- 
ness might  in  the  same  way  be  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  par- 
liament." Sir  Edwin  Sandys  was  able  to  secure  for  the  staple 
of  Yirginia  complete  protection  in  the  English  market  against 
foreign  tobacco,  by  a  petition  from  the  commons,  which  was 
followed  by  a  royal  proclamation.  On  the  sixteenth  of  June, 
1624,  the  last  day  of  the  Trinity  term,  judgment  was  given 
against  the  treasurer  and  company,  and  the  patents  were  can- 
celled ;  but  not  till  the  company  had  fulfilled  its  high  destiny 
by  conceding  irrevocably  a  liberal  form  of  government  to  Eng- 
lishmen in  Yirginia. 

Meantime,  commissioners  arrived  from  the  colony,  and 
made  their  report  to  the  king.  They  enumerated  the  disasters 
which  had  befallen  the  infant  settlement ;  they  eulogized  the 
soil  and  the  climate ;  they  held  up  the  plantations  as  of  great 
national  importance,  and  an  honorable  monument  of  the  reign 
of  King  James ;  and  they  expressed  a  preference  for  the  orig- 
inal constitution  of  1606.  Supported  by  their  advice,  the 
king  resolved  himself  to  "  take  care  for  the  government  of  the 
country."  In  its  domestic  government  and  franchises  no  im- 
mediate change  was  made.  Sir  Francis  Wyatt,  though  he 
had  been  an  ardent  friend  of  the  London  company,  was,  in 
August,  confirmed  in  office ;  and  he  and  his  council  were 
only  empowered  to  govern  "  as  fully  and  amplye  as  any  gov- 
ernor and  council  resident  there,  at  any  time  within  the  space 
of  five  years  now  last  past."  This  term  of  five  years  was  pre- 
cisely the  period  of  representative  government ;  and  the  limi- 


134  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN"  AMERICA,     part  i.;  oh.  vm. 

tation  formally  sanctioned  the  continuance  of  popular  assem- 
blies. The  king,  in  appointing  the  council  in  Virginia,  re- 
fused to  nominate  the  embittered  partisans  of  the  court  faction, 
and  formed  the  administration  on  the  principles  of  accommo- 
dation. But  death  prevented  the  royal  legislator  from  prepar- 
ing for  the  colony  a  code  of  fundamental  laws. 


1625  1629.    RESTRICTIONS  ON  COLONIAL  COMMERCE.       135 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

RESTRICTIONS   ON    COLONIAL   COMMERCE. 

Ascending  the  throne  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  March, 
1625,  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  Charles  I.  inherited  the  princi- 
ples and  was  governed  by  the  favorite  of  his  father.  The  re- 
joicings in  consequence  of  his  recent  nuptials  with  a  Bourbon 
princess,  and  preparations  for  a  parliament,  left  him  little  leis- 
ure for  American  affairs.  In  his  eager  pursuit  of  a  revenue 
for  the  crown,  his  first  Virginia  measure  was  a  proclamation, 
issued  within  a  fortnight  of  his  accession;  it  confirmed  to 
Virginia  and  the  Somer  isles  the  exclusive  supply  of  the 
British  market  with  tobacco.  After  a  few  days  a  new  procla- 
mation appeared,  in  which  he  announced  his  fixed  resolution 
of  becoming,  through  his  agents,  the  sole  factor  of  the  planters. 
When,  early  in  1626,  Wyatt  retired,  the  reappointment  of  Sir 
George  Yeardley  was  in  itself  a  guarantee  that,  as  '*  the  former 
interests  of  Virginia  were  to  be  kept  inviolate,"  so  the  repre- 
sentative government  would  be  maintained ;  for  by  Yeardley 
it  had  been  introduced.  In  his  commission,  in  which  William 
Clayborne,  described  as  "  a  person  of  quality  and  trust,*'  is 
named  as  secretary,  the  monarch  expressed  his  desire  to  en- 
courage and  perfect  the  plantation ;  "  the  same  means  that 
were  formerly  thought  fit  for  the  maintenance  of  the  colony  " 
were  continued ;  and  the  power  of  the  governor  and  council 
was  limited,  as  in  the  commission  of  Wyatt,  by  a  reference  to 
the  usages  of  the  last  ^ve  years.  The  words  were  interpreted 
as  favoring  the  wishes  of  the  colonists ;  and  King  Charles,  in- 
tent only  on  a  revenue,  confirmed  the  existence  of  a  popular 
assembly.     Virginia  rose  rapidly  in  public  esteem  ;  in  162T  a 


136  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  ix. 

thousand  emigrants  arrived ;  and  there  was  an  increasing  de- 
mand for  the  products  of  its  soil. 

In  JS'ovember  of  that  year  the  career  of  Yeardley  was 
closed  by  death.  Posterity  retains  a  grateful  recollection  of 
the  man  who  first  convened  a  representative  assembly  in  the 
western  hemisphere ;  the  colonists,  in  a  letter  to  the  privy 
council,  pronounced  a  eulogy  on  his  virtues.  The  day  after 
his  burial,  and  in  the  absence  of  John  Harvey  who  was  named 
in  Yeardley's  commission  as  his  eventual  successor,  Francis 
West  was  elected  governor ;  for  the  council  was  authorized  to 
elect  the  governor,  "  from  time  to  time,  as  often  as  the  case 
should  require." 

In  the  preceding  August  the  king,  by  a  letter  of  instruc- 
tions to  the  governor  and  council,  offered  to  contract  for  the 
whole  crop  of  tobacco,  desiring,  at  the  same  time,  that  an 
assembly  might  be  convened  to  consider  his  proposal.  In 
March,  1628,  the  assembly,  in  its  reply,  which  was  signed  by 
the  governor,  by  ^ve  members  of  the  council,  and  by  thirty- 
one  burgesses,  acquiesced  in  the  royal  monopoly,  but  protested 
against  its  being  farmed  out  to  individuals.  The  Virginians, 
happier  than  the  people  of  England,  enjoyed  a  faithful  repre- 
sentative government ;  and,  through  resident  planters  who 
composed  the  council,  they  repeatedly  made  choice  of  their 
own  governor.  When  West  designed  to  embark  for  Europe, 
his  place  was  supplied  by  the  election  of  John  Pott,  the  best 
surgeon  and  physician  in  the  colony. 

IN'o  sooner  had  the  news  of  the  death  of  Yeardley  reached 
England  than  the  king  issued  a  commission  to  Harvey  as  gov- 
ernor. The  instrument,  while  it  renewed  the  limitations  which 
had  previously  been  set  to  the  executive  authority,  permitted 
the  governor  to  supply  all  vacancies  occurring  in  the  council 
in  Virginia,  subject  to  approval. 

In  1629,  after  the  appointment  of  Harvey  and  before  his 
return  to  America,  Lord  Baltimore  visited  Virginia.  Its  gov- 
ernment pursued  him  as  a  Romanist,  and  would  not  suffer  him 
to  plant  within  its  jurisdiction.  On  the  other  hand,  the  peo- 
ple of  'New  Plymouth  were  invited  to  abandon  their  cold  and 
sterile  abode  for  the  milder  regions  on  Delaware  bay — a  plain 
indication  that  Puritans  were  not  as  yet  molested. 


1680-1635.     RESTRICTIONS  ON    COLONIAL   COMMERCE.       137 

Late  in  the  year  Harvey  arrived  in  Virginia.  He  met  his 
first  assembly  of  burgesses  in  1630,  a  week  before  Easter.  As 
his  first  appearance  in  America  had  been  with  no  friendly 
designs,  so  now  he  was  the  support  of  those  who  desired  large 
grants  of  land  and  separate  jurisdictions ;  and  he  preferred 
the  interests  of  his  partisans  and  patrons,  especially  Lord 
Baltimore,  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony.  Moreover,  he  held  a 
warrant  to  receive  for  himself  all  fines  arising  from  any  sen- 
tence of  its  courts  of  justice.  In  his  proceedings  he  was  rough 
and  passionate,  pronouncing  hasty  judgments  and  quarrelling 
with  the  council ;  yet,  while  arbitrary  power  was  rapidly  ad- 
vancing in  England,  the  Virginians  uninterruptedly  enjoyed 
independent  legislation ;  through  the  agency  of  their  repre- 
sentatives, they  levied  and  appropriated  taxes,  secured  the  free 
industry  of  their  citizens,  guarded  the  forts  with  their  own 
soldiers  at  their  own  charge,  and  gave  publicity  to  their  stat- 
utes. When  the  defects  and  inconveniences  of  infant  legisla- 
tion were  remedied  by  a  revised  code,  which  was  published 
with  the  approbation  of  the  governor  and  council,  the  privileges 
which  the  assembly  had  ever  claimed  were  confirmed.  Indeed, 
they  had  not  been  questioned.  The  governor  had  advised  that 
he  should  have,  for  the  time  being,  a  negative  voice  on  all  acts 
of  legislation ;  and  the  government,  in  its  reply,  had  suggested 
that  the  laws  made  in  Virginia  should  stand  only  as  proposi- 
tions until  the  king  should  ratify  them  under  his  great  seal ; 
but  the  limitation  was  not  introduced  into  his  commission.  De 
Vries,  who  visited  Virginia  in  1632-'33,  found  reason  to  praise 
the  advanced  condition  of  the  settlement,  the  abundance  of  its 
products,  and  the  liberality  of  its  government. 

The  community  was  nevertheless  disturbed  because  fines, 
now  the  perquisites  of  the  governor,  were  rashly  imposed,  and 
relentlessly  exacted.  In  1635,  the  discontent  of  Virginia,  at 
the  dismemberment  of  its  territory  by  the  patent  of  Lord  Bal- 
timore, was  at  its  height.  While  Clayborne,  who  had  been 
superseded  as  secretary,  resisted  the  jurisdiction  of  Maryland 
over  Kent  island  and  over  trade  in  the  Chesapeake,  Harvey 
courted  the  favor  of  Baltimore.  The  colonists  were  fired  with 
indignation  that  their  governor,  who  was  hateful  to  them  for 
his  self-will  and  violence,  should  betray  their  territorial  interests. 

VOL.  I.— 11 


138  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  ix. 

In  the  latter  part  of  April  a  multitude  of  people,  among 
whom  was  the  sheriff  of  York,  assembled  in  that  place  at  the 
house  of  William  Barrene,  who  was  the  chief  speaker  at  the 
meeting.  Francis  Pott  read  a  petition  written  by  his  brother, 
the  governor  by  election  whom  Harvey  had  superseded,  and 
subscribed  by  many  from  other  parts  of  the  country,  com- 
plaining of  a  tax  imposed  by  Harvey ;  of  the  want  of  justice 
in  his  administration ;  and  of  his  unadvised  and  dangerous 
dealings  with  the  Indians.  For  this  act  the  governor  ordered 
the  sheriff,  Francis  Pott,  and  another,  to  be  apprehended,  and 
called  the  council  to  assist  in  suppressing  these  mutinous 
gatherings.  But,  on  the  twenty-eighth,  Matthews,  an  old 
planter,  and  other  members  of  the  council,  came  to  his  house, 
armed,  and  attended  by  fifty  musketeers.  John  Utie,  a  coun- 
cillor, struck  him  on  the  shoulder,  and  said :  "I  arrest  you. for 
treason;"  which  consisted,  as  they  said,  in  going  about  to 
betray  their  forts  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  of  Maryland. 
The  musketeers  were  ordered  to  draw  back  until  there  should 
be  use  for  them,  and  guards  were  stationed  in  all  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  house.  The  three  prisoners  were  set  at 
liberty.  The  petition  against  the  governor  was  produced,  and 
made  the  pretext  for  calling  for  an  assembly,  by  which,  as 
a  proclamation  announced,  complaints  against  the  governor 
would  be  heard.  Matthews,  a  man  of  quick  temper,  whom 
Harvey  had  opposed  at  the  board  with  exceeding  animosity, 
informed  him  that  the  fury  against  him  could  not  be  appeased. 
He  attempted  to  make  terms  with  the  council ;  but  they  would 
yield  to  none  of  his  conditions,  and  chose  in  his  place  John 
West,  who  immediately  assumed  the  government.  Harvey 
finally  consented  to  go  to  England,  and  there  make  answer 
to  their  complaints.  He  professed  to  fear  "  that  the  mutineers 
intended  no  less  than  the  subversion  of  Maryland." 

On  the  eleventh  of  December  the  cause  of  Sir  John  Har- 
yej  was  investigated  by  the  privy  council,  the  king  himself 
presiding.  "To  send  hither  the  governor,"  said  Charles, 
"is  an  assumption  of  the  regal  power;  it  is  necessary  to 
send  him  back,  though  to  stay  but  a  day ;  if  he  can  clear  him- 
self, he  shall  remain  longer  than  he  otherwise  would  have 
done."     The  commissioners  appointed  by  the  council  of  Yir 


J 


1635-1642.    RESTRICTIONS   ON  COLONIAL   COMMERCE.       13^ 

ginia  to  present  their  complaints  had  not  arrived.  In  their 
absence,  Harvey  pleaded  that  there  was  no  particular  charge 
against  him.  It  appeared  that  he  had  assumed  power  to  place 
and  displace  members  of  the  council,  and  that  under  the  provo- 
cation of  ill  language  he  had  struck  one  of  them  and  sequestered 
another.  But  he  denied  that  he  had  unduly  favored  trade 
with  the  Dutch,  or  that  he  had  countenanced  the  popish  reli- 
gion in  Maryland ;  and  he  even  denied  that  mass  was  publicly 
said  in  that  province. 

A  few  days  later,  in  accordance  with  the  request  of  Lord 
Baltimore,  Harvey  received  a  new  commission,  which  limited 
his  powers  as  before,  but  reserved  the  appointments  to  vacan- 
cies in'  the  council  to  the  government  in  England.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  unseaworthiness  of  the  king's  ship  in  which  he 
was  to  have  sailed,  he  did  not  reach  Virginia  until  January, 
1637,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  a  year  and  a  half.  Without 
delay,  he  met  the  council  at  the  church  of  Elizabeth  City,  pub- 
lished the  king's  proclamation,  pardoning,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, all  persons  who  had  given  aid  in  the  late  practices  against 
him ;  and  summoned  an  assembly  for  the  following  February. 
During  the  period  of  his  office  the  accustomed  legislative  rights 
of  the  colony  were  not  impaired. 

In  November,  1639,  he  was  superseded  by  Sir  Francis 
Wyatt,  who,  in  the  following  January,  convened  a  general 
assembly.  In  Virginia,  debts  had  been  contracted  to  be  paid 
in  tobacco ;  and  as  the  article  rose  in  value,  in  consequence  of 
laws  restricting  its  culture,  the  legislature  did  not  scruple  to 
enact  that  "  no  man  need  pay  more  than  two  thirds  of  his  debt 
during  the  stint;"  and  that  all  creditors  should  take  " forty 
pounds  for  a  hundred."  Beyond  this,  the  second  administra- 
tion of  Wyatt  passed  silently  away. 

After  two  years,  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  constituted  gov- 
ernor. The  members  of  his  council  were  to  take  part  with 
him  in  supplying  vacancies  in  that  body.  His  instructions 
enjoined  him  to  be  careful  that  God  should  be  served  after 
the  form  established  in  the  church  of  England,  and  not  to  suf- 
fer any  innovation  in  matters  of  religion.  Each  congregation 
was  to  provide  for  its  own  minister.  The  oaths  of  supremacy 
and  allegiance  were  to  be  tendered  to  residents,  and  recusants 


140  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  ix. 

"to  be  sent  home."  Justice  was  to  be  administered  according 
to  the  laws  of  England.  Besides  the  quarter  courts,  inferior 
courts  were  to  be  established  for  minor  suits  and  offences; 
and  probate  of  wills  was  provided  for.  All  men  above  sixteen 
years  were  to  bear  arms.  Trade  with  the  savages  without 
special  license  was  forbidden.  To  every  person  who  had  emi- 
grated since  midsummer,  1625,  a  patent  for  fifty  acres  of  land 
was  ordered.  The  general  assembly  was  to  meet  annually,  the 
governor  having  a  negative  voice  on  its  acts.  With  the  con- 
sent of  the  assembly,  the  residence  of  the  government  might  be 
removed  to  a  more  healthful  place,  which  should  take  the  old 
name  of  Jamestown.  One  of  the  instructions  imposed  by  the 
prerogative  most  severe  and  unwarrantable  restrictions  on 
the  liberty  of  trade,  of  which  the  nature  will  presently  be 
explained. 

It  was  in  February,  1642,  that  Sir  Wilham  Berkeley  as- 
sumed the  government.  He  summoned  immediately  the  colo- 
nial legislature.  The  memory  of  factions  was  lost  in  a  general 
amnesty  of  ancient  griefs.  The  lapse  of  years  had  so  far 
effaced  the  divisions  which  grew  out  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
company  that,  when  George  Sandys  presented  to  the  commons 
of  England  a  petition  praying  for  the  restoration  of  the  an- 
cient patents,  the  colonial  assembly  disavowed  the  design,  and, 
after  a  full  debate,  opposed  it  by  a  protest.  They  asserted 
the  necessity  of  the  freedom  of  trade,  because  it  "  is  the  blood 
and  life  of  a  commonwealth."  And  they  defended  their  pref- 
erence of  self-government  through  a  colonial  legislature,  by  a 
conclusive  argument :  "  There  is  more  likelyhood  that  such  as 
are  acquainted  with  the  clime  and  its  accidents  may  upon  bet- 
ter grounds  prescribe  our  advantages,  than  such  as  shall  sit  at 
the  helm  in  England."  The  king,  who  regarded  "  all  corpora- 
tions as  refractory  to  "  monarchy  itself,  declared,  in  reply,  his 
purpose  not  to  change  a  form  of  government  in  which  they 
"  received  so  much  content  and  satisfaction." 

The  Virginians,  aided  by  Sir  William  Berkeley,  could  now 
deliberately  perfect  their  civil  condition.  Condemnations  to 
service  had  been  a  usual  punishment ;  these  were  abolished. 
In  the  courts  of  justice,  a  near  approach  was  made  to  the  laws 
and  customs  of  England.     Keligion  was  provided  for,  the  law 


1642-1646.     RESTRICTION'S   ON  COLONIAL  COMMERCE.  ,    141 

about  land  titles  adjusted,  an  amicable  treaty  with  Maryland 
matured,  and  peace  with  the  Indians  confirmed.  Taxes  were 
assessed,  not  in  proportion  to  numbers,  but  to  men's  abilities 
and  estates.  The  spirit  of  liberty,  which  moved  in  the  Eng- 
lish parliament,  belonged  equally  to  the  colony ;  and  the  rights 
of  property,  the  freedom  of  industry,  the  exercise  of  civil 
franchises,  seemed  to  be  secured  to  themselves  and  their  pos- 
terity, "  A  future  immunity  from  taxes  and  impositions," 
except  such  as  should  be  freely  voted  for  their  own  wants, 
"  was  expected  as  the  fruits  of  the  endeavors  of  their  legisla- 
ture." The  restraints  with  which  their  navigation  was  threat- 
ened were  not  enforced,  and  Virginia  enjoyed  nearly  all  the 
liberties  which  a  monarch  could  concede,  and  retain  his  su- 
premacy. 

The  triumph  of  the  popular  party  in  England  did  not  alter 
the  condition  or  the  affections  of  the  Virginians.  The  com- 
missioners appointed  by  parliament  in  N'ovember,  1643,  with 
full  authority  over  the  plantations,  among  whom  were  Haselrig, 
Henry  Vane,  Pym,  and  Cromwell,  promised,  indeed,  freedom 
from  English  taxation  ;  but  this  immunity  was  already  enjoyed. 
They  gave  the  colony  liberty  to  choose  its  own  governor ;  but 
it  had  no  dislike  to  Berkeley ;  and,  though  there  was  a  party 
for  the  parliament,  yet  the  king's  authority,  which  Charles 
had  ever  mildly  exercised,  was  maintained. 

The  condition  of  contending  factions  in  England  had 
brought  the  opportunity  of  legislation  independent  of  Euro- 
pean control ;  and  the  act  of  the  assembly,  restraining  relig- 
ious liberty,  proves  the  attachment  of  the  representatives  of 
Virginia  to  the  Episcopal  church  and  to  royalty.  "  Here,'* 
the  tolerant  Whitaker  had  written,  "  neither  surplice  nor  sub- 
scription is  spoken  of ; "  and  many  Puritan  families,  perhaps 
some  even  of  the  Puritan  clergy,  had  planted  themselves 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia.  The  honor  of  Laud  had 
been  vindicated  by  a  judicial  sentence,  and  south  of  the  Poto- 
mac the  decrees  of  the  court  of  high  commission  were  allowed 
to  be  valid ;  but  there  is  no  trace  of  persecutions  in  the  earliest 
history  of  the  colony.  The  laws  were  harsh ;  the  administra- 
tion seems  to  have  been  mild.  A  disposition  to  non-conform- 
ity was  soon  to  show  itself  even  in  the  council.     An  invitation, 


142  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  ix. 

which  had  been  sent  to  Boston  for  Puritan  ministers,  implies 
a  belief  that  thej  would  have  been  admitted.  But  the  demo- 
cratic revolution  in  England  had  given  an  immediate  political 
importance  to  religious  sects :  to  tolerate  Puritanism  was  to 
nurse  a  republican  party.  It  was,  therefore,  in  March,  1643, 
specially  ordered  that  no  minister  should  preach  or  teach,  pub- 
licly or  privately,  except  in  conformity  to  the  constitutions  of 
the  church  of  England,  and  non-conformists  were  banished.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  ministers,  invited  from  Boston  by  the  Pu- 
ritan settlements  in  Virginia,  carried  letters  from  Winthrop, 
written  to  Berkeley  and  his  council  by  order  of  the  general 
court  of  Massachusetts.  "  The  hearts  of  the  people  were 
much  inflamed  with  desire  after  the  ordinances ; "  but  the 
missionaries  were  silenced  by  the  government,  and  ordered  to 
leave  the  country.  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  "  a  courtier,  and 
very  malignant  toward  the  way  of  the  churches"  in  ]N^ew 
England. 

"^  With  the  Indians  no  terms  of  peace  were  entertained. 
Hearing  of  the  dissensions  in  England,  they  resolved  on  one 
more  attempt  at  a  general  massacre.  On  the  eighteenth  of 
April,  1644,  they  began  a  concerted  onset  upon  the  frontier 
settlements.  But  hardly  had  they  steeped  their  hands  in  blood 
before  they  were  dismayed  by  the  sense  of  their  own  weakness, 
and,  after  having  killed  three  hundred  persons,  they  fled  to 
distant  woods. 

Effective  measures  were  promptly  taken  by  the  English, 
and  so  little  was  apprehended,  when  they  were  on  their  guard, 
that,  two  months  after  the  massacre,  Berkeley  embarked  for 
England,  leaving  Richard  Kemp  as  his  substitute.  A  border 
warfare  continued,  yet  ten  men  were  sufficient  to  protect  a 
place  of  danger. 

In  1646,  the  aged  Opechancanough  was  taken  captive,  and 
died  of  wounds.  In  October,  of  that  year,  Kecotowance,  his 
successor,  about  fifteen  months  after  Berkeley's  return  from 
England,  made  peace  with  Virginia,  on  the  conditions  of  sub- 
mission and  a  cession  of  lands.  The  original  possessors  of  the 
soil  began  to  vanish  from  the  neighborhood  of  English  settle- 
ments, leaving  no  enduring  memorials  but  the  names  of  rivers 
and  mountains. 


I 


1646-1650.     RESTKICTIONS  ON  COLONIAL  COMMERCE.       143 

The  colonists  acquired  the  management  of  all  their  con- 
cerns ;  war  was  levied,  and  peace  concluded,  and  territory  an- 
nexed, in  conformity  to  the  acts  of  their  own  representatives. 
Possessed  of  security  and  quiet,  abundance  of  land,  a  free 
market  for  their  staple,  and  having  England  for  their  guardian 
against  foreign  oppression,  rather  than  their  ruler,  the  colonists 
enjoyed  all  the  prosperity  which  a  virgin  soil,  equal  laws,  and 
general  uniformity  of  condition  and  industry  could  bestow. 
Their  cottages  were  filled  with  children,  the  ports  with  ships 
and  emigrants.  At  Christmas,  1648,  there  were  trading  in 
Virginia  ten  ships  from  London,  two  from  Bristol,  twelve  Hol- 
landers, and  seven  from  New  England.  The  number  of  the 
colonists  was  already  twenty  thousand,  and  they  who  had  sus- 
tained no  griefs  were  not  tempted  to  engage  in  the  feuds 
which  rent  the  mother  country.  After  the  execution  of 
Charles,  in  1649,  though  there  were  not  wanting  some  who 
favored  republicanism,  the  government  recognised  his  son 
without  dispute.  The  disasters  of  the  royalists  in  England 
strengthened  their  party  in  the  Kew  World.  Men  of  consid- 
eration "  among  the  nobility,  gentry,  and  clergy,"  struck  "  with 
horror  and  despair  "  at  the  beheading  of  Charles  T.,  and  desir- 
ing no  reconciliation  with  unrelenting  "  rebels,"  made  their 
way  to  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  where  every  house  was 
for  them  a  "  hostelry,"  and  every  planter  a  friend.  "  Virginia 
was  whole  for  monarchy,  and  the  last  country,  belonging 
to  England,  that  submitted  to  obedience  of  the  common- 
wealth." 

In  June,  1650,  the  royal  exile,  from  his  retreat  at  Breda, 
transmitted  to  Berkeley  a  new  commission,  and  still  controlled 
the  distribution  of  offices.  But  the  parliament  did  not  long 
permit  its  authority  to  be  denied.  By  a  memorable  ordinance 
of  October  third,  it  empowered  the  council  of  state  to  reduce 
the  rebellious  colonies  to  obedience,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
prohibited  foreign  ships  from  trading  at  any  of  the  ports  "in 
Barbadoes,  Antigua,  Bermudas,  and  Virginia."  Maryland, 
which  had  taken  care  to  acknowledge  the  new  order  of  things, 
was  not  expressly  included  in  the  ordinance. 

While  preparations  were  making  for  the  reduction  of  the 
loyal  colonies,  the  commercial  policy  of  England  underwent  a 


iU  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  m   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  ix. 

revision,  to  which  the  interests  of  English  merchants  and  ship- 
builders imparted  consistency  and  durability. 

No  sooner  had  Spain  and  Portugal  found  their  way  round 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  to  America  than  they  claimed  a 
monopoly  of  the  traffic  of  the  wider  world,  and  the  Roman 
religion,  dividing  it  between  them,  forbade  the  intrusion  of 
competitors  by  the  pains  of  excommunication. 

In  Europe,  the  freedom  of  the  seas  was  vindicated  against 
Spain  and  Portugal  by  a  state  hardly  yet  recognised  as  inde- 
pendent, and  driven  by  the  stern  necessity  of  its  dense  popu- 
lation to  seek  resources  upon  the  water.  Grotius,  its  gifted  son, 
who  first  gave  expression  to  the  idea  that  "  free  ships  make 
free  goods,"  defended  the  liberty  of  commerce,  and  appealed  to 
the  judgment  of  all  free  governments  and  nations  against  the 
maritime  restrictions,  which  humanity  denounced  as  contrary 
to  the  principles  of  social  intercourse,  which  justice  derided  as 
infringing  the  clearest  natural  rights,  which  enterprise  rejected 
as  a  monstrous  usurpation  of  the  oceans  and  the  winds.  The 
relinquishment  of  navigation  in  the  East  Indies  was  required 
by  Spain  as  the  price  at  which  its  independence  should  be 
acknowledged,  and  the  rebel  republic  preferred  to  defend  its 
separate  existence  by  arms  rather  than  purchase  security  by 
circumscribing  the  courses  of  its  ships.  While  the  inglorious 
James  of  England  was  negotiating  about  points  of  theology, 
while  the  more  unhappy  Charles  was  struggling  against  the 
liberties  of  his  subjects,  the  Dutch,  a  little  confederacy,  which 
had  been  struck  from  the  side  of  Spain,  a  new  people,  scarcely 
known  as  a  nation,  had,  by  their  superior  skill,  begun  to  engross 
the  carrying  trade  of  the  world.  Their  ships  were  found  in 
the  harbors  of  Virginia,  in  the  West  Indian  archipelago,  in  the 
south  of  Africa,  among  the  tropical  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean, 
and  even  in  the  harbors  of  China  and  Japan.  Their  trading- 
houses  were  planted  on  the  Hudson  and  the  coast  of  Guinea,  in 
Java  and  Brazil.  One  or  two  rocky  islets  in  the  West  Indies, 
in  part  neglected  by  the  Spaniards  as  unworthy  of  culture,  fur- 
nished these  daring  merchants  a  convenient  shelter  for  a  large 
contraband  traffic  with  the  terra  j^rma.  The  freedom  and  the 
enterprise  of  Holland  acquired  maritime  power,  and  skill  and 
wealth,  such  as  the  monopoly  of  Spain  could  never  command. 


1651-1652.     RESTRICTIONS   ON   COLONIAL   COMMERCE.      145 

The  causes  of  the  commercial  greatness  of  Holland  were 
forgotten  in  envy  at  its  success.  It  ceased  to  appear  as  the 
gallant  champion  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  against  Spain,  and 
became  envied  as  the  successful  rival.  The  English  govern- 
ment resolved  to  protect  the  English  merchant.  Cromwell 
desired  to  confirm  the  maritime  power  of  his  country ;  and 
Saint-John,  a  Puritan  and  a  republican  in  theory,  though  never 
averse  to  a  limited  monarchy,  devised  the  first  act  of  naviga- 
tion, which,  in  1651,  the  politic  Whitelocke  introduced  and 
carried  through  parliament.  Henceforward,  the  commerce 
between  England  and  her  colonies,  between  England  and  the 
rest  of  the  world,  was  to  be  conducted  in  ships  solely  owned, 
and  principally  manned,  by  Englishmen.  Foreigners  might 
bring  to  England  nothing  but  the  products  of  their  respective 
countries,  or  those  of  which  their  countries  were  the  estab- 
lished staples.  The  act  was  levelled  against  Dutch  commerce, 
and  was  but  a  protection  of  British  shipping  ;  it  contained  no 
clause  relating  to  a  colonial  monopoly,  or  specially  injurious  to 
an  American  colony.  Of  itself  it  inflicted  no  wound  on  Vir- 
ginia or  New  England.  In  vain  did  the  Dutch  expostulate 
against  the  act  as  a  breach  of  commercial  amity ;  the  parlia- 
ment studied  the  interests  of  England,  and  would  not  repeal 
laws  to  please  a  neighbor. 

A  naval  war  followed,  which  Cromwell  desired,  and  Hol- 
land endeavored  to  avoid.  Each  people  kindled  with  national 
enthusiasm  ;  and  the  annals  of  recorded  time  had  never  known 
so  many  great  naval  actions  in  such  quick  succession.  This  was 
the  war  in  which  Blake  and  Ayscue  and  De  Huyter  gained 
their  glory  ;  and  Tromp  fixed  a  broom  to  his  mast,  as  if  to 
sweep  the  English  flag  from  the  seas. 

Cromwell  aspired  to  make  England  the  commercial  empo- 
rium of  the  world.  His  plans  extended  to  the  acquisition  of 
harbors  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands ;  France  was  obliged  to 
pledge  her  aid  to  conquer,  and  her  consent  to  yield,  Dunkirk, 
Mardyke,  and  Gravelines ;  and  Dunkirk,  in  the  summer  of 
1658,  was  given  up  to  his  ambassador  by  the  French  king  in 
p3rson.  He  desired  harbors  in  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic, 
and  an  alliance  with  Protestant  Sweden  was  to  secure  him 
Bremen  and  Elsinore  and  Dantzic.     In  the  West  Indies,  he 


146    ^  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  ir. 

aimed  at  obtaining  Cuba ;  his  commanders  captured  Jamaica ; 
and  the  attempt  at  the  reduction  of  Hispaniola,  then  the  chief 
possession  of  Spain  among  the  islands,  failed  only  through  the 
incompetency  or  want  of  concert  of  his  agents. 

The  protection  of  English  shipping,  thus  established  as  a 
part  of  the  British  commercial  policy,  was  the  successful  exe- 
cution of  a  scheme  which  many  centuries  before  had  been 
attempted.  In  1641,  a  new  and  most  oppressive  restriction  on 
colonial  commerce  was  inserted  in  the  instructions  of  Sir 
William  Berkeley.  'No  vessel  laden  with  colonial  commodities 
might  sail  from  the  harbors  of  Virginia  for  any  ports  but  those 
of  England,  that  the  staple  of  those  commodities  might  be 
made  in  the  mother  country,  and  the  king  be  secure  of  the 
customs  which  were  his  due.  All  trade  with  foreign  vessels, 
except  in  case  of  necessity,  was  forbidden.  At  the  moment 
this  instruction  was  disregarded,  but  the  system  was  sure  to  be 
revived,  for  it  leagued  together  the  English  merchant  and  the 
English  government  in  the  oppression  of  those  who  for  more 
than  a  century  remained  too  feeble  to  offer  effectual  resist- 
ance. 

The  ordinance  which  was  adopted  in  October,  1650,  for 
reducing  to  obedience  the  colonies  which  adhered  to  the  Stu- 
arts, forbade  all  intercourse  with  them,  except  to  those  who  had 
a  license  from  parliament  or  the  council  of  state.  It  excluded 
foreigners  rigorously,  and,  in  connection  with  the  navigation 
act  of  the  following  year,  it  confirmed  the  monopoly  of  colo- 
nial commerce.  This  state  of  commercial  law  was  modified 
by  the  manner  in  which  the  authority  of  the  commonwealth 
was  established.  The  force  that  was  sent  to  reduce  Barbadoes 
encountered,  in  1652,  a  momentary  resistance  from  the  royalist 
government ;  but,  on  its  surrender,  the  people  found  their  lib- 
erties secured.  One  of  their  number,  in  a  letter  to  Bradshaw, 
then  president  of  the  council  of  state,  raised  the  question  of 
coming  times,  saying :  "  The  great  difiiculty  is,  how  we  shall 
have  a  representative  with  you  in  your  government  and  our 
parliament.  That  two  representatives  be  chosen  by  this  island, 
to  advise  and  consent  to  matters  that  concern  this  place,  may 
be  both  just  and  necessary ;  for,  if  laws  be  imposed  upon 
us  without  our  personal  or  implied  consent,  we  cannot  be 


1652-1655.    KESTRICTIONS   ON   COLONIAL   COMMERCE.       I47 

accounted  better  than  slaves,  which,  as  all  Englishmen  abhor 
to  see,  so  I  am  confident  you  detest  to  have  them.  This  is  so 
clear  that  I  shall  not  need  to  enforce  it  with  argument." 

Of  the  commissioners  whom  the  republican  rulers  of  Great 
Britain  elected  to  settle  the  authority  of  the  English  common- 
wealth in  the  Chesapeake,  two  of  them,  Ei chard  Bennett  and 
Clayborne,  were  taken  from  among  the  planters  themselves ; 
their  instructions  constituted  them  the  pacificators  and  bene- 
factors of  their  country.  Only  in  case  of  resistance  was  war 
threatened ;  if  Virginia  would  adhere  to  the  commonwealth, 
she  might  be  mistress  of  her  own  destiny.  What  opposition 
needed  to  be  made  to  a  power  which  seemed  voluntarily  to 
propose  a  virtual  independence  ?  No  sooner  had  the  Guinea 
frigate,  in  March,  1652,  anchored  in  the  waters  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, than  "  all  thoughts  of  resistance  were  laid  aside,"  and 
the  colonists  yielded  by  a  voluntary  deed  and  a  mutual  com- 
pact. It  was  agreed,  upon  the  surrender,  that  the  "  people  of 
YiRGiNiA  "  should  have  all  the  liberties  of  the  free-born  people 
of  England,  should  intrust  their  business,  as  formerly,  to  their 
own  grand  assembly,  should  remain  unquestioned  for  their 
past  loyalty,  and  should  have  "  as  free  trade  as  the  people  of 
England."  All  this  was  confirmed  by  the  Long  Parliament ; 
but  the  article  which  was  to  restore  to  Virginia  its  ancient 
bounds,  and  that  which  covenanted  that  no  taxes,  no  customs, 
might  be  levied,  except  by  their  own  representatives,  no  forts 
erected,  no  garrisons  maintained,  but  by  their  own  consent, 
were  referred  to  a  committee,  and  were  never  definitively 
acted  upon. 

Till  the  restoration,  the  colony  of  Virginia  practically  en- 
joyed liberties  as  large  as  the  favored  New  England,  and  dis- 
played equal  fondness  for  popular  sovereignty.  The  execu- 
tive ofiicers  became  elective ;  and  so  evident  were  the  designs 
of  all  parties  to  promote  an  amicable  settlement  of  the  gov- 
ernment, that  Bichard  Bennett,  himself  a  commissioner  of  the 
parliament,  a  merchant,  and  a  Boundhead,  was,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  other  commissioners,  unanimously  chosen 
governor.  The  oath  required  of  the  burgesses  made  it  their 
paramount  duty  to  provide  for  ''  the  general  good  and  pros- 
perity" of  Virginia  and  its  inhabitants.     Under  Berkeley's 


148  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEPwICA.     paet  i.  ;  oh.  ix. 

administration,  Bennett  liad  been  oppressed  in  Virginia ;  and 
now  there  was  not  the  slightest  effort  at  revenge. 

The  acts  of  1652,  which  constituted  the  government, 
claimed  for  the  assembly  the  privilege  of  defining  the  powers 
which  were  to  belong  to  the  governor  and  council,  and  the 
public  good  was  declared  to  require  "  that  the  right  of  elect- 
ing all  officers  of  this  colony  should  appertain  to  the  bur- 
gesses," as  "  the  representatives  of  the  people."  It  had  been 
usual  for  the  governor  and  council  to  sit  in  the  assembly  ;  the 
expediency  of  the  custom  was  questioned,  and  a  temporary 
compromise  ensued;  they  retained  their  former  right,  but 
were  required  to  take  the  oath  w^hich  was  administered  to  the 
burgesses.  The  house  of  burgesses  acted  as  a  convention  of 
the  people,  distributing  power  as  the  public  welfare  required. 

Cromwell  never  made  any  appointments  for  Virginia. 
When,  in  1655,  Bennett  retired,  the  assembly  elected  his  suc- 
cessor, and  Edward  Diggs,  who  had  before  been  chosen  of  the 
council,  and  who  "  had  given  a  signal  testimony  of  his  fidelity 
to  Virginia  and  to  the  commonwealth  of  England,"  received 
the  suffrages.  Upon  the  report  of  a  committee  concerning  the 
unsettled  government  of  Virginia,  the  council  of  State  in 
London  nominated  to  the  protector  for  the  office  of  governor 
the  very  same  man,  as  one  who  would  satisfy  all  parties  and 
interests  among  the  colonists  ;  but  no  evidence  has  been  found 
that  Cromwell  acted  upon  the  advice.  The  commissioners  in 
the  colony  were  chiefly  engaged  in  settling  the  affairs  and 
adjusting  the  boundaries  of  Maryland. 

The  right  of  electing  the  governor  continued  to  be  exer- 
cised by  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and,  in  1658,  Sam 
uel  Matthews,  son  of  an  old  planter,  was  chosen  to  the  office- 
But,  from  too  exalted  ideas  of  his  station,  he,  with  the  coun^ 
oil,  became  involved  in  an  unequal  contest  with  the  assembly 
by  which  he  had  been  elected.  The  burgesses  had  enlarged 
their  power  by  excluding  the  governor  and  council  from  their 
sessions,  and,  having  thus  reserved  to  themselves  the  first  free 
discussion  of  every  law,  had  voted  an  adjournment  from 
April  till  November.  The  governor  and  council,  by  message, 
declared  the  dissolution  of  the  assembly.  The  legality  of  the 
dissolution  was  denied,  and,  after  an  oath  of  secrecy,  every 


X655-1660.     RESTRICTIONS   ON   COLONIAL   COMMERCE.       14^ 

burgess  was  enjoined  not  to  betray  his  trust  by  submission. 
Matthews  yielded,  reserving  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  protector. 
When  the  house  unanimously  voted  the  governor's  answer 
unsatisfactory,  he  revoked  the  order  of  dissolution,  but  still 
referred  the  decision  of  the  dispute  to  Cromwell.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  assembly,  apprehensive  of  a  limitation  of  colonial 
liberty  by  the  reference  of  a  political  question  to  England, 
determined  on  the  assertion  of  their  independent  powers.  A 
committee  was  appointed,  of  which  John  Carter,  of  Lancaster, 
was  the  chief.  The  governor  and  council  had  ordered  the 
dissolution  of  the  assembly ;  the  burgesses  now  annulled  the 
former  election  of  governor  and  council.  Having  thus  exer- 
cised not  merely  the  right  of  election,  but  the  more  extraor- 
dinary right  of  removal,  they  re-elected  Matthews,  '^who  by 
us,"  they  added,  "  shall  be  invested  with  all  the  just  rights 
and  privileges  belonging  to  the  governor  and  captain-general 
of  Virginia."  The  governor  acknowledged  the  validity  of 
his  ejection  by  taking  the  oath  which  had  just  been  prescribed, 
and  the  council  was  organized  anew.  The  spirit  of  popular 
liberty  established  all  its  claims. 

On  the  death  of  Cromwell,  the  burgesses  deliberated  in 
private,  and  unanimously  resolved  that  Richard  Cromwell 
should  be  acknowledged.  But  it  was  a  more  interesting  ques- 
tion whether  the  change  of  protector  in  England  would, 
endanger  liberty  in  Virginia.  The  letter  from  the  council 
had  left  the  government  to  be  administered  according  to  for- 
mer usage.  The  assembly  declared  itself  satisfied  with  the 
language.  But,  that  there  might  be  no  reason  to  question  the 
existing  usage,  the  governor  was  summoned  to  come  to  the 
house,  where,  in  1659,  he  appeared  in  person,  acknowledged 
the  supreme  power  of  electing  officers  to  be  by  the  present 
laws  resident  in  the  assembly,  and  pledged  himself  to  join  in 
addressing  the  new  protector  for  special  confirmation  of  all 
existing  privileges.  The  reason  for  this  proceeding  is  as- 
signed :  "  that  what  is  their  privilege  now  may  be  the  privi- 
lege of  their  posterity." 

On  th6  death  of  Matthews,  the  Virginians  were  without  a 
chief  magistrate,  at  the  time  when  the  resignation  of  Kichard 
left  England  without  a  government.     The  burgesses,  who  were 


150  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  ix. 

immediately  convened,  enacted  "  that  the  supreme  power  of  the 
government  of  this  country  shall  be  resident  in  the  assembly  ; 
and  all  writs  shall  issue  in  its  name,  until  there  shall  arrive  from 
England  a  commission,  which  the  assembly  itself  shall  adjudge 
to  be  lawful."  This  having  been  done,  Sir  WilliamJBerkeley 
was  elected  governor,  and,  acknowledging  the  validity  of  the 
acts  of  the  burgesses,  whom,  it  was  agreed,  he  could  in  no 
event  dissolve,  he  accepted  the  office,  and  recognised  without 
a  scruple  the  authority  to  which  he  owed  his  elevation.  *'  I 
am,"  said  he,  "  but  a  servant  of  the  assembly."  The  dominion, 
awaiting  the  settlement  of  affairs  in  England,  hoped  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Stuarts. 

Virginia  at  that  day  possessed  not  one  considerable  town, 
and  her  statutes  favored  the  independence  of  the  planter 
rather  than  the  security  of  trade.  The  representatives  of 
colonial  landholder  voted  "  the  total  ejection  of  mercenary 
attorneys."  By  a  special  act,  emigrants  were  safe  against 
suits  designed  to  enforce  engagements  that  had  been  made  in 
Europe,  and  colonial  obligations  might  be  satisfied  by  a  sur- 
render of  property.  Tobacco  was  generally  used  instead  of 
coin.  Theft  was  hardly  known,  and  the  spirit  of  the  criminal 
law  was  mild.  The  highest  judicial  tribunal  was  the  assem- 
bly, which  was  convened  once  a  year,  or  oftener.  Already 
large  landed  proprietors  were  frequent,  and  plantations  of  two 
thousand  acres  were  not  unknown. 

During  the  suspension  of  the  royal  government  in  Eng- 
land, Yirginia  regulated  her  commerce  by  independent  laws. 
The  ordinance  of  1650  was  rendered  void  by  the  act  of  capit- 
ulation ;  the  navigation  act  of  Cromwell  was  not  designed  for 
her  oppression,  and  was  not  enforced  within  her  borders.  If 
an  occasional  confiscation  took  place,  it  was  done  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  colonial  assembly.  The  war  between  England 
and  the  United  Provinces  did  not  wholly  interrupt  the  inter- 
course of  the  Dutch  with  the  English  colonies,  and  though, 
after  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  trade  was  contraband,  the  English 
restrictions  were  disregarded.  A  remonstrance,  addressed  to 
Cromwell,  in  1656,  demanded  an  unlimited  liberty,  and  we 
may  suppose  that  it  was  not  refused,  for,  some  months  before 
Cromwell's  death,  the  Virginians  "  invited  the  Dutch  and  all 


1660.  RESTRICTIONS  ON   COLONIAL  COMMERCE.       151 

foreigners"  to  trade  with  them,  on  payment  of  no  higher 
duty  than  that  which  was  levied  on  such  English  vessels  as 
were  bound  for  a  foreign  port.  Proposals  of  peace  and  com- 
merce between  New  Netherland  and  Virginia  were  discussed 
without  scruple  by  the  respective  colonial  governments,  and, 
in  1660,  a  statute  of  Virginia  extended  to  every  Christian 
nation,  in  amity  with  England,  a  promise  of  liberty  to  trade 
and  equal  justice.  At  the  restoration,  Yirginia  enjoyed  free- 
dom of  commerce. 

Yirginia  was  the  first  state  in  the  world,  with  separate 
districts  or  boroughs,  diffused  over  an  extensive  surface,  where 
representation  was  organized  on  the  principle  of  a  suffrage  em- 
bracing all  payers  of  a  tax.  In  1655,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  limit  the  right  to  housekeepers ;  but  the  very  next  year  it 
was  decided  to  be  "  hard,  and  unagreeable  to  reason,  that  any 
person  shall  pay  equal  taxes,  and  yet  have  no  votes  in  elec- 
tions ; "  and  the  electoral  franchise  was  restored  to  all  free- 
men. Servants,  when  the  time  of  their  bondage  was  com- 
pleted, became  electors,  and  might  be  chosen  burgesses. 

Keligious  liberty  advanced  under  the  influence  of  inde- 
pendent domestic  legislation.  No  churches  had  been  erected 
except  in  the  heart  of  the  colony ;  and  there  were  so  few 
ministers  that  a  bounty  was  offered  for  their  importation. 
In  the  reign  of  Charles,  conformity  had  been  enforced  by 
measures  of  disfranchisement  and  exile ;  in  1658,  under  the 
commonwealth,  all  things  respecting  parishes  and  parishioners 
were  referred  to  their  own  ordering ;  and  religious  liberty 
would  have  been  perfect  but  for  an  act  of  intolerance,  by 
which  Quakers  were  banished,  and  their  return  proscribed  as 
a  felony. 

Thus  Yirginia  established  the  supremacy  of  the  popular 
branch,  freedom  of  trade,  the  independence  of  religious  so- 
cieties, security  from  foreign  taxation,  and  the  elective  fran- 
chise for  every  one  who  paid  so  much  as  a  poll-tax.  Proud 
of  her  own  sons,  she  already  preferred  them  for  places  of 
authority.  Emigrants  never  again  desired  to  live  in  Eng- 
land. Prosperity  advanced  with  freedom ;  dreams  of  new 
staples  and  infinite  wealth  were  indulged;  and  the  popu- 
lation, at  the  epoch  of  the  restoration,  may  have  been  about 


162  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEKICA.     paet  i.  ;  oh.  ix. 

thirty  thousand.  Manj  of  the  recent  comers  had  been  loy- 
alists, good  officers  in  the  war,  men  of  education,  of  prop- 
erty, and  of  condition.  The  revolution  had  not  subdued 
their  characters,  but  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  divided  them 
from  the  strifes  of  Europe ;  their  industry  was  employed  in 
making  the  best  advantage  of  their  plantations;  and  the 
interests  and  liberties  of  the  land  which  they  adopted  were 
dearer  to  them  than  the  monarchical  principles  which  they 
had  espoused  in  England.  Virginia  had  long  been  the  home 
of  its  inhabitants.  "  Among  many  other  blessings,"  said  their 
statute-book,  "God  Almighty  hath  vouchsafed  increase  of 
children  to  this  colony ; "  and  the  huts  in  the  wilderness 
were  as  full  as  the  birds'  nests  of  the  woods. 

The  clear  atmosphere,  especially  of  autumn,  and  the  milder 
winter,  delighted  the  comers  from  England.  Many  objects 
of  nature  were  new  and  wonderful :  the  loud  and  frequent 
thunder-storms ;  forests,  free  from  underwood,  and  replenished 
with  sweet  barks  and  odors ;  trees  in  the  season  clothed  in  flow- 
ers of  brilliant  colors ;  birds  with  gay  plumage  and  varied 
melodies.  Every  traveller  admired  the  mocking-bird,  which 
repeated  and  excelled  the  notes  of  its  rivals ;  and  the  hum- 
ming-bird, so  bright  in  its  hues  and  so  delicate  in  its  form, 
quick  in  motion,  rebounding  from  the  blossom  into  which  it 
dips  its  bill,  and  as  soon  returning  to  renew  its  many  addresses. 
The  rattlesnake,  with  the  terrors  of  its  alarum  and  the  deadli- 
ness  of  its  venom ;  the  opossum,  celebrated  for  the  care  of  its 
offspring ;  the  noisy  frog,  booming  from  the  shallows  like  the 
English  bittern ;  the  flying  squirrel ;  the  myriads  of  pigeons, 
darkening  the  air  with  the  immensity  of  their  flocks,  and 
breaking  with  their  weight  the  boughs  of  trees  on  which  they 
alighted — became  the  subjects  of  the  strangest  tales.  The 
concurrent  relation  of  Indians  seemed  to  justify  the  belief 
that,  within  ten  days'  journey  toward  the  setting  of  the  sun, 
there  was  a  country  where  gold  might  be  washed  from  the 
sand. 

Various  were  the  employments  by  which  the  stillness  of 
life  was  relieved.  George  Sandys,  who  for  a  time  was  in 
Virginia  as  treasurer  for  the  colony,  a  poet,  whose  verse  was 
tolerated  by  Dryden  and  praised  by  his  friend  Drayton  and 


16fi0.  RESTRICTIONS  ON   COLONIAL  COMMERCE.       163 

by  Izaak  Walton,  as  well  as  by  Richard  Baxter,  employed 
lidu.-s  of  night  in  translating  ten  books  of  Ovid's  "  Meta- 
morphoses." The  lover  of  the  garden  found  the  fruits  of 
Europe  improved  in  flavor  by  the  joint  influence  of  climate 
and  soil.  The  chase  furnished  a  perpetual  resource.  It  was 
not  long  before  the  horse  was  multiplied ;  and  to  improve 
that  noble  animal  was  early  an  object  of  pride,  soon  to  be 
favored  by  legislation. 

The  hospitality  of  the  Yirginians  was  proverbial.  Land 
was  cheap,  and  competence  followed  industry.  There  was 
no  need  of  a  scramble.  The  morasses  were  alive  with  water- 
fowl ;  the  creeks  abounded  with  oysters,  heaped  together  in 
inexhaustible  beds ;  the  rivers  were  crowded  with  fish  ;  the 
forests  were  alive  wath  game  ;  the  woods  rustled  with 
coveys  of  quails  and  wild  turkeys ;  and  hogs,  swarming  like 
vermin,  ran  at  large  in  troops.  It  was  "  the  best  poor  man's 
country  in  the  world."  "  If  a  happy  peace  be  settled  in  poor 
England,"  it  had  been  said,  "  then  they  in  Virginia  shall  be 
as  happy  a  people  as  any  under  Heaven." 


VOL.  I.— 12 


154  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,    pabt  i.  ;  oh.  x. 


CHAPTER  X. 

COLONIZATION    OF   MARYLAND. 

YiRGiNiA,  by  its  second  charter,  extended  two  hundred 
miles  north  of  Old  Point  Comfort,  and  therefore  included 
the  soil  which  forms  the  state  of  Maryland.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  country  toward  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake  was 
explored ;  settlements  in  Accomack  were  extended  ;  and 
commerce  was  begun  with  tribes  which  Smith  had  been  the 
first  to  visit.  In  1621,  Pory,  the  secretary  of  the  colony, 
"made  a  discovery  into  the  great  bay,"  as  far  as  the  river 
Patuxent,  which  he  ascended ;  but  his  voyage  probably 
reached  no  farther  to  the  north.  An  English  settlement  of 
a  hundred  men,  on  the  eastern  shore,  was  a  consequence  of 
his  voyage.  The  hope  "  of  a  very  good  trade  of  furs  "  with 
the  Indians  animated  the  adventurers. 

An  attempt  to  obtain  a  monopoly  of  this  intercourse  was 
made  by  'Vfilliam  Clayborne,  whose  resolute  spirit  was  des- 
tined to  exert  a  long-continued  influence.  His  first  appear- 
ance in  America  was  as  a  surveyor,  sent  by  the  London  com- 
pany to  make  a  map  of  the  country.  At  the  fall  of  the 
corporation,  he  had  been  appointed  by  King  James  a  member 
of  the  council;  and,  on  the  accession  of  Charles,  was  con- 
tinued in  ofiice,  and,  in  repeated  commissions,  was  nominated 
secretary  of  state.  He  further  received  authority  from  the 
governors  of  Yirginia  to  discover  the  source  of  the  bay  of  the 
Chesapeake,  and  explore  any  part  of  the  province,  from  the 
thirty-fourth  to  the  forty-first  degree  of  latitude.  Upon  his 
favorable  representation,  a  company  was  formed  in  England 
for  trading  with  the  natives ;  and,  in  May,  1631,  through  the 
agency  of  Sir  William  Alexander,  the  Scottish  proprietary  of 


1621-1629.  COLONIZATION   OF  MARYLAND.  155 

No\  A  Scotia,  a  royal  license  was  issued,  sanctioning  the  com- 
merce, and  conferring  on  Clayborne  powers  of  government 
over  the  companions  of  his  voyages.  Under  this  grant,  the 
isle  of  Kent  was  occupied  in  the  following  August,  and  the 
right  to  the  soil  was  soon  after  purchased  of  the  Indians. 
An  advanced  post  was  established  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Susquehanna.  The  settlers  on  Kent  island  were  all  mem- 
bers of  the  church  of  England  ;  and  in  February,  1632,  they 
were  represented  by  a  burgess  in  the  grand  assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia. In  March  of  that  year,  their  license  was  confirmed  by 
a  commission  from  Sir  John  Harvey  as  governor  of  Yirginia. 

The  United  States  were  severally  colonized  by  men,  in 
origin,  religious  faith,  and  purposes,  as  various  as  their  climes. 
Before  Yirginia  could  occupy  the  country  north  of  the  Poto- 
mac, a  new  government  in  that  quarter  was  promised,  to  Sir 
George  Calvert.  Born  in  Yorkshire,  educated  at  Oxford,  with 
a  mind  enlarged  by  extensive  travel,  on  his  entrance  into  life 
he  was  befriended  by  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  advanced  to  the  honors 
of  knighthood,  and  at  length  employed  as  one  of  the  two  sec- 
retaries of  state.  In  1621,  he  stood  with  Wentworth  to  repre- 
sent in  parliament  his  native  county,  and  escaped  defeat, 
though  not  a  resident  in  the  shire.  His  capacity  for  business, 
his  industry,  and  his  fidelity  to  King  James,  are  acknowledged 
by  all  historians.  In  the  house  of  commons  it  was  he  who 
made  an  untimely  speech  for  the  supply  of  the  king's  purse  ; 
and,  when  the  commons  claimed  their  liberties  as  their  ancient 
and  nndoubted  right  and  inheritance,  it  was  to  Calvert  the 
king  unbosomed  his  anger  at  their  use  of  such  "  anti-monarch- 
ical words."  The  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  the  prince 
of  Wales  with  a  Spanish  princess  were  conducted  entirely  by 
him.  In  an  age  of  increasing  divisions  among  Protestants,  his 
mind  sought  relief  from  controversy  in  the  bosom  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  church ;  and,  professing  his  conversion  without 
forfeiting  the  king's  favor,  in  1624,  he  disposed  advantageously 
of  his  place,  which  had  been  granted  him  for  life,  and  ob- 
tained the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  the  Irish  peerage. 

He  had,  from  early  years,  shared  the  enthusiasm  of  Eng- 
land in  favor  of  American  plantations ;  had  been  a  member  of 
the  great  company  for  Yirginia ;  and,  while  secretary  of  state. 


156  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     pabo.'  i.  ;  en.  x. 

had  obtained  a  special  patent  for  the  southern  promon  •'o^ry  of 
Newfoundland,  named  Avalon,  after  the  fabled  isle  from  which 
King  Arthur  was  to  return  alive.  How  zealous  he  was  in 
selecting  suitable  emigrants,  how  earnest  to  promote  order 
and  industry,  how  lavishly  he  expended  his  estate  in  advanc- 
ing the  interests  of  his  settlement — is  related  by  those  who 
have  written  of  his  life.  He  desired,  as  a  founder  of  a  colony, 
not  present  profit,  but  a  reasonable  expectation  ;  and,  avoiding 
the  evils  of  a  common  stock,  he  left  each  one  to  enjoy  the  re- 
sults of  his  own  industry.  Twice  did  he,  in  person,  inspect 
his  settlement.  In  1629,  on  his  second  visit,  with  ships 
manned  at  his  own  charge  he  repelled  the  French,  who  were 
hovering  round  the  coast  to  annoy  English  fishermen  ;  and, 
having  taken  sixty  of  them  prisoners,  he  secured  temporary 
tranquillity  to  his  countrymen  and  his  colonists. 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  he  wrote  to  the  king  from 
his  province  that  the  difiiculties  he  had  encountered  in  that 
place  were  no  longer  to  be  resisted ;  that  from  October  to  May 
both  land  and  sea  were  frozen  the  greater  part  of  the  time ; 
that  he  was  forced  to  shift  to  some  warmd^r  climate  of  the  New 
World  ;  that,  though  his  strength  was  much  decayed,  his  incli- 
nation carried  him  naturally  to  "  proceedings  in  plantations.'* 
He  therefoia-dfisired  the  grant  of  a  precinct  of  land  in  Yir- 
.giniaj_with-_the  same  prijdleges^wjbichj^ingJanaesJijj^^ 
ooded  to  him_ in  Newfoundland. 

Despatching  this  petition  to  Charles  I.,  he  embarked  for 
Virginia,  and  arrived  there  in  October,  the  season  in  which 
the  country  on  the  Chesapeake  arrays  itself  in  its  most  attrac- 
tive brightness.  The  governor  and  council  forthwith  ordered 
the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  to  be  tendered  him. 
It  was  in  vain  that  he  proposed  a  form  which  he  was  willing 
to  subscribe ;  they  insisted  upon  that  which  had  been  chosen 
by  the  English  statutes,  and  which  was  purposely  framed  in 
such  language  as  no  Catholic  could  adopt.  An  explanatory 
letter  was  transmitted  from  the  Yirginia  government  to  the 
privy  council,  with  the  prayer  that  no  papists  might  be  suf- 
fered to  settle  among  them. 

Almost  at  the  time  when  this  report  was  written,  the  king 
at  Whitehall,  weighing  that  men  of  Lord  Baltimore's  condi- 


1629-1632.  COLONIZATION   OF  MARYLAND.  15? 

tion  and  breeding  were  unfit  for  the  rugged  and  laborious 
beginnings  of  new  plantations,  advised  him  to  desist  from 
further  prosecuting  his  designs,  and  to  return  to  his  native 
country.  He  came  back ;  but  it  was  "  to  extol  Virginia  to  the 
skies,"  and  to  persist  in  his  entreaties.  It  was  represented  that 
on  the  north  of  the  Potomac  there  lay  a  country  inhabited  only 
by  native  tribes.  The  French,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Swedes 
were  preparing  to  occupy  it ;  and  a  grant  seemed  the  readiest 
mode  of  securing  it  by  an  English  settlement.  The  cancel- 
ling of  the  Virginia  patents  had  restored  to  the  monarch  his 
prerogative  over  the  soil ;  and  it  was  not  difficult  for  Calvert 
— a  man  of  such  moderation  that  all  parties  were  taken  with 
him,  sincere  in  his  character,  disengaged  from  all  interests, 
and  a  favorite  with  the  royal  family — to  obtain  a  charter  for 
uncultivated  domains  in  that  happy  clime.  The  conditions  of 
the  grant  conformed  to  the  wishes,  it  may  be  to  the  sugges- 
tions, of  the  first  Lord  Baltimore  himself,  although  it  was 
finally  issued  for  the  benefit  of  his  son. 

The  ocean,  the  fortieth  parallel  of  ]atitude.  the  meridian  of 
the  western  fountain  of  the  Potomac,  the  river  itself  from  its 
source  to  its  mouth,  and  a  line  drawn  due  east  from  Watkin's 
Point  to  the  Atlantic — these  were  the  limits  of  the  province, 
which,  by  the  king's  command,  took  the  name  of  Maryland, 
from  the  queen,  Henrietta  Maria.  The  country  thus  described 
was  given  to  Lord  Baltimore,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  as  to  its 
absolute  lord  and  proprietary,  to  be  holden  by  the  tenure  of 
fealty  only,  paying  a  yearly  rent  of  two  TnriiflTi  arrnwa^ 
a^fifth  of  all^old  and  silver  ore  whiV.h  might  hp.  found.  Yet 
authority  was  conceded  to  him  rather  with  reference  to  the 
crown  than  the  colonists.  The  charter,  like  the  constitution 
of  Virginia  of  July,  1621,  provided  for  a  resident  council  of_ 
gtate ;.  and,  like  his  patent,  which,  in  April, '1623,  had  passed 
the  great  seal 'for  A-valon,  required  for  acts  of  legislation  the  _ 
^vice  and  approbation  of  the  majority  of  the  freemen  or._ 
their  deputies^  Authority  was  intrusted  to  the  proprietary 
from  time  to  time  to  constitute  fit  and  wholesome  ordinances, 
provided  they  were  consonant  to  reason  and  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, and  did  not  extend  to  the  life,  freehold,  or  estate  of 
any  emigrant.     For  the  benefit  of  the  colony,  the  English 


158  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  x. 

statutes  restraining  emigration  were  dispensed  with ;  and  all 
present  and  future  liege  people  of  the  English  king,  except 
such  as  should  be  expressly  forbidden,  might  transport  them- 
selves and  their  families  to  Maryland.  Christianity,  as  pro- 
fessed by  the  church  of  England,  was  established ;  but  the  pat- 
ronage and  advowsons  of  churches  were  vested  in  the  pro- 
prietary ;  and,  as  there  was  not  an  English  statute  on  religion 
in  which  America  was  specially  named,  silence  left  room  for 
the  settlement  of  religious  affairs  by  the  colony.  Kor  was 
Baltimore  obliged  to  obtain  the  royal  assent  to  his  appoint- 
ments of  officers,  nor  to  the  legislation  of  his  province,  nor 
even  to  make  a  communication  of  the  one  or  the  other.  More- 
over, the  English  monarch,  by  an  express  stipulation,  cove- 
nanted that  neither  he,  nor  his  heirs,  nor  his  successors,  should 
ever,  at  any  time  thereafter,  set  any  imposition,  custom,  or  tax 
whatsoever,  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  province.  To  the 
proprietary  was  given  the  power  of  creating  manors  and  courts 
baron,  and  of  establishing  a  colonial  aristocracy  on  the  system 
of  sub-infeudation.  But  feudal  institutions  could  not  be  per- 
petuated in  the  lands  of  their  origin,  far  less  renew  their  youth 
in  America.  Sooner  might  the  oldest  oaks  in  Windsor  for- 
est be  transplanted  across  the  Atlantic  than  antiquated  social 
forms.  The  seeds  of  popular  liberty,  contained  in  the  charter, 
would  find  in  the  'New  World  the  soil  best  suited  to  quicken 
them. 

Sir  George  Calvert  deserves  to  be  ranked  among  the  wisest 
and  most  benevolent  law-givers,  for  he  connected  his  hopes  of 
the  aggrandizement  of  his  family  with  the  establishment  of 
popular  institutions ;  and,  being  a  "  papist,  wanted  not  charity 
toward  Protestants." 

On  the  fifteenth  of  April,  1632,  before  the  patent  could 
pass  the  great  seal,  he  died,  leaving  a  name  in  private  life  free 
from  reproach.  As  a  statesman,  he  was  taunted  with  being 
"  an  Hispaniolized  papist ; "  and  the  justice  of  history  must 
avow  that  he  misconceived  the  interests  of  his  country  and  of 
his  king,  and  took  part  in  exposing  to  danger  civil  liberty  and 
the  rights  of  the  parliament  of  England.  For  his  son,  Cecil 
Calvert,  the  heir  of  his  father's  intentions  not  less  than  of  his 
father's  fortunes,  the  charter  of  Maryland  was,  on  the  twentieth 


1632-1634.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  159 

of  the  following  June,  published  and  confirmed ;  and  he  ob- 
tained the  high  distinction  of  successfully  performing  what 
colonial  companies  resident  in  England  had  hardly  been  able 
to  achieve.  He  planted  a  colony,  which  for  several  genera- 
tions descended  as  a  lucrative  patrimony  to  his  heirs. 

Virginia  regarded  the  severing  of  her  territory  with  appre- 
hension ;  and,  in  1633,  before  any  colonists  had  embarked 
under  the  charter  for  Maryland,  her  commissioners  in  England 
remonstrated  against  the  grant,  as  an  invasion  of  her  commercial 
rights,  an  infringement  on  her  domains,  and  a  discouragement 
to  her  planters.  In  all  the  business,  Strafford,  the  friend  of 
the  father,  "  took  upon  himself  a  noble  patronage  of "  Lord 
Baltimore ;  and  the  remonstrance  was  in  vain.  The  privy 
council  sustained  the  proprietary  charter ;  they  left  the  claim- 
ants of  the  isle  of  Kent  to  the  course  of  law ;  at  the  same  time 
they  advised  the  parties  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  all  dis- 
putes, and  commanded  a  free  commerce  and  a  good  correspond- 
ence between  the  respective  colonies. 

Lord  Baltimore  was  unwilling  to  take  upon  himself  the 
sole  risk  of  colonizing  his  province ;  others  joined  with  him 
in  the  adventure  ;  and,  all  difficulties  being  overcome,  his  two 
brothers,  of  whom  Leonard  Calvert  was  appointed  his  lieuten- 
ant, "  with  very  near  twenty  other  gentlemen  of  very  good 
fashion,  two  or  three  hundred  laboring  men  .well  provided  in 
all  things,"  and  Father  White  with  one  or  two  more  Jesuit 
missionaries,  en^barked  themselves  for  the  voyage  in  the  good 
ship  Ark,  of  three  hundred  tons  and  upward,  and  a  pinnace 
called  the  Dove,  of  about  fifty  tons.  On  the  twenty-second 
of  November,  1633,  the  ships,  having  been  placed  by  the 
priests  under  the  protection  of  God,  the  Virgin  Mary,  St.  Ig- 
natius, and  all  the  other  guardian  angels  of  Maryland,  weighed 
anchor  from  the  isle  of  Wight.  As  they  sailed  by  way  of  the 
Fortunate  islands,  Barbadoes,  and  St.  Christopher's,  it  was  not 
until  the  last  week  in  February  of  the  following  year  that 
they  arrived  at  Point  Comfort,  in  Virginia,  where,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  express  letters  of  King  Charles,  they  were  wel- 
comed with  courtesy  and  humanity  by  Harvey.  The  governor 
offered  them  what  Virginia  had  obtained  so  slowly,  and  at  so 
much  cost,  from  England :  cattle  and  hogs  and  poultry ;  two 


160  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     part  i.;  oh.  x. 

or  three  hundred  stocks  already  grafted  with  apples  and  pears, 
peaches  and  cherries ;  and  promised  that  the  new  plantations 
should  not  want  the  open  way  to  furnish  themselves  from  the 
old.  Clayborne,  who  had  explored  the  Chesapeake  bay,  and 
had  established  a  lucrative  trade  in  furs  from  Kent  and  Pal- 
mer's isles,  predicted  the  hostility  of  the  natives;  and  was 
told  that  he  was  now  a  member  of  Mar^^land,  and  must  relin- 
quish all  other  dependence. 

After  a  week's  kind  entertainment,  the  adventurers  bent 
their  course  to  the  north  and  entered  the  Potomac.  "  A  larger 
or  more  beautiful  river,"  writes  Father  White,  "  I  have  never 
seen ;  the  Thames,  compared  with  it,  can  scarce  be  considered 
a  rivulet ;  no  undergrowth  chokes  the  beautiful  groves  on  each 
of  its  solid  banks,  so  that  you  might  drive  ^  four-horse  chariot 
among  the  trees."  Sheltered  by  a  small  island,  which  can 
now  hardly  be  identified,  the  Ark  cast  anchor,  while  Cal- 
vert, with  the  Dove  and  another  pinnace,  ascended  the  stream. 
At  about  forty-seven  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
he  came  upon  the  village  of  Piscataqua,  an  Indian  settlement 
nearly  opposite  Mount  Yernon,  where  he  found  an  English- 
man who  had  lived  many  years  among  the  Indians  as  a  trader, 
and  spoke  their  language  well.  With  him  for  an  interpreter, 
a  parley  was  held.  To  the  request  for  leave  for  the  new- 
comers to  sit  down  in  his  country,  the  chieftain  of  the  tribe 
answered:  "they  might  use  their  own  discretion."  It  did 
not  seem  safe  to  plant  so  far  in  the  interior.  Taking  with 
him  the  trader,  Calvert  went  down  the  river,  examining 
the  creeks  and  estuaries  nearer  the  Chesapeake ;  he  entered 
the  branch  which  is  now  called  St.  Mary's ;  and,  about  four 
leagues  from  its  junction  with  the  Potomac,  he  anchored 
at  the  Indian  town  of  Yoacomoco.  The  native  inhabitants, 
having  suffered  from  the  superior  power  of  the  Susquehan- 
nahs,  who  occupied  the  district  between  that  river  and  the 
Delaware  bay,  had  already  resolved  to  remove  into  places  of 
more  security  ;  and  many  of  them  had  begun  to  migrate.  It 
was  easy,  by  presents  of  cloth  and  axes,  of  hoes  and  knives, 
to  gain  their  good-will,  and  to  purchase  their  rights  to  the  soil 
which  they  were  preparing  to  abandon.  With  mutual  prom- 
ises of  friendship  and  peace,  they  readily  gave  consent  that 


1634-1635.  COLONIZATION   OF   MARYLAND.  l6t 

the  English  should  immediately  occupy  one  half  of  their 
town ;  and,  after  the  harvest,  the  other. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  the  day  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion, in  the  island  under  which  the  Ark  lay  moored,  a  Jesuit 
priest  of  the  party  offered  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  which  in 
that  region  of  the  world  had  never  been  celebrated  before. 
This  being  ended,  he  and  his  assistants  took  upon  their  shoul- 
ders the  great  cross  which  they  had  hewn  from  a  tree  ;  and, 
going  in  procession  to  the  place  that  had  been  designated  for 
it,  the  governor  and  other  Catholics,  Protestants  as  well  par- 
ticipating in  the  ceremony,  erected  it  as  a  trophy  to  Christ 
the  Saviour,  while  the  litany  of  the  holy  cross  was  chanted 
humbly  on  their  bended  knees. 

Upon  the  twenty-seventh,  the  emigrants,  of  whom  at  least 
three  parts  of  four  were  Protestants,  took  quiet  possession  of 
the  land  which  the  governor  had  bought.  Before  many  days, 
Sir  John  Harvey  arrived  on  a  visit;  the  red  chiefs  came  to 
welcome  or  to  watch  the  emigrants,  and  were  so  well  received 
that  they  resolved  on  mutual  amity.  The  Indian  women 
taught  the  wives  of  the  new-comers  to  make  bread  of  maize  ; 
the  warriors  of  the  tribe  joined  the  huntsmen  in  the  chase. 
The  planters  removed  all  jealousy  out  of  the  minds  of  the 
natives,  and  settled  with  them  a  very  firm  league  of  peace  and 
friendship. 

As  they  had  come  into  possession  of  ground  already  sub- 
dued, they  at  once  planted  cornfields  and  gardens.  'No  suffer- 
ings were  endured ;  no  fears  of  want  arose ;  the  foundation  of 
Maryland  was  peacefully  and  happily  laid ;  and  in  six  months 
it  advanced  more  than  Virginia  had  done  in  as  many  years. 
The  proprietary  continued  with  great  liberality  to  provide 
everything  needed  for  its  comfort  and  protection,  expending 
twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  his  associates  as  many 
more.  But  far  more  memorable  was  the  character  of  its  insti- 
tutions. One  of  the  largest  wigwams  was  consecrated  for 
religious  service  by  the  Jesuits,  who  could  therefore  say  that 
the  first  chapel  in  Maryland  was  built  by  the  red  men.  Of 
the  Dissenters,  though  they  seem  as  yet  to  have  been  without 
a  minister,  the  rights  were  not  abridged.  This  enjoyment  of 
liberty  of  conscience  did  not  spring  from  any  act  of  colonial 


162  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  x, 

legislation,  nor  from  anj  formal  and  general  edict  of  the  gov- 
ernor, nor  from  any  oath  as  yet  imposed  by  instructions  of 
'  the  proprietary.  English  statutes  were  not  held  to  bind  the 
colonies,  unless  they  especially  named  them  ;  the  clause  which, 
in  the  charter  for  Virginia,  excluded  from  that  colony  "  all 
persons  suspected  to  affect  the  superstitions  of  the  church 
of  Rome,"  found  no  place  in  the  charter  for  Maryland ;  and, 
while  allegiance  was  held  to  be  due,  there  was  no  requirement 
of  the  oath  of  supremacy.  Toleration  grew  up  in  the  prov- 
ince silently,  as  a  custom  of  the  land.  Through  the  benignity 
of  the  administration,  no  person  professing  to  believe  in  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  was  permitted  to  be  molested  on 
account  of  religion.  Roman  Catholics,  who  were  oppressed 
by  the  laws  of  England,  were  sure  to  find  an  asylum  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Potomac ;  and  there,  too,  Dissenters  were 
sheltered  against  Protestant  intolerance.  From  the  first,  men 
of  foreign  birth  enjoyed  equal  advantages  with  those  of  the 
English  and  Irish  nations. 
\^  The  prosperity  and  peace  of  Maryland  seemed  assured. 
But  no  sooner  had  the  allegiance  of  Clayborne's  settlement 
been  claimed  than  te  inquired  of  the  governor  and  council  of 
Virginia  how  he  should  demean  himself ;  and  was  answered 
that,  as  the  question  was  undetermined  in  England,  they 
knew  no  reason  why  they  should  render  up  the  rights  of  the 
isle  of  Kent,  which  they  were  bound  in  duty  to  maintain. 
Fortified  by  this  decision  and  by  the  tenor  of  letters  from 
the  king,  he  continued  his  traffic  as  before.  On  the  other 
hand.  Lord  Baltimore,  in  September,  gave  orders  to  seize  him, 
if  he  did  not  submit  to  his  government ;  and  the  secretary  of 
state  "directed  Sir  John  Harvey  to  continue  his  assistance 
against  Clayborne's  malicious  practices." 

In  February,  1635,  the  colony  was  convened  for  legisla- 
tion. Probably  all  the  freemen  were  present,  in  a  strictly 
popular  assembly.  The  laws  of  this  first  legislative  body  of 
Maryland  are  no  longer  extant,  nor  do  we  know  what  part  it 
took  in  vindicating  the  jurisdiction  of  the  province.  But  in 
April  of  that  year  the  pinnace,  in  which  men  employed  by 
Claybome  had  been  trafficking,  was  seized  by  a  party  from  St. 
Mary's.     Resenting  the  act,  he  sent  a  vessel  into  the  Chesa 


1635-1640.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  163 

peake  to  demand  the  restoration  of  his  captured  property. 
On  the  tenth  of  May,  a  skirmish  took  place  on  one  of  the  rivers 
of  the  eastern  shore,  south  of  Kent  island.  The  Marylanders, 
with  the  loss  of  but  one  man,  slew  the  commander  and  two 
others  of  the  Virginians,  and  took  the  rest  prisoners. 

Unable  to  continue  the  contest  by  force.  Clay  borne  re- 
paired to  England  to  lay  his  case  before  the  king.  During 
his  absence,  and  just  before  the  end  of  1637,  the  government 
of  Maryland  established  itself  on  the  isle  of  Kent.  In  the 
following  January,  an  assembly,  in  which  Kent  island  was 
represented,  was  convened  ;  and  an  act  of  attainder  was  car- 
ried against  Clayborne,  as  one  who  had  been  indicted  for  pi- 
racy and  murder  and  had  fled  from  justice.  Thomas  Smith, 
who  had  served  as  his  ofiicer,  could  not  be  tried  by  a  jury, 
for  there  was  no  law  that  reached  his  case ;  he  was  therefore 
called  to  the  bar  of  the  house,  arraigned  upon  an  indictment 
for  piracy,  and,  after  his  plea  had  been  heard,  was  found 
guilty  by  all  the  members  except  one.  Sentence  was  pro- 
nounced on  him  by  the  president,  in  the  name  of  the  free- 
men ;  all  his  property  except  the  dower  of  his  wife  was  for- 
feited, and  he  was  condemned  to  be  hanged.  Then  did  the 
prisoner  demand  his  clergy ;  but  it  was  denied  by  the  presi 
dent,  both  for  the  nature  "  of  his  crime  and  that  it  was  de- 
manded after  judgment." 

In  England,  Clayborne  attempted  to  gain  a  hearing ;  and, 
partly  by  strong  representations,  still  more  by  the  influence  of 
Sir  William  Alexander,  succeeded,  for  a  season,  in  winning  the 
favorable  disposition  of  Charles.  But,  when  the  whole  aff'air 
came  to  be  finally  referred  to  the  commissioners  for  the  planta- 
tions, it  was  found  that  the  right  of  the  king  to  confer  the 
soil  and  the  jurisdiction  of  Maryland  could  not  be  contro- 
verted ;  that  the  earlier  license  to  trafiic  did  not  vest  in  Clay- 
borne any  rights  which  were  valid  against  the  charter ;  and, 
therefore,  that  the  isle  of  Kent  belonged  to  Lord  Baltimore, 
who  alone  could  permit  plantations  to  be  established,  or  com- 
merce with  the  Indians  to  be  conducted,  within  his  territory. 

The  people  of  Maryland  were  not  content  with  vindicat- 
ing tho  limits  of  their  province ;  they  were  jealous  of  their 
liberties.     Their  legislature  rejected  the  code  which  the  pro- 


164:  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  x. 

prietarj,  as  if  holding  the  exclusive  privilege  of  proposing 
statutes,  had  prepared  for  their  government;  and,  in  their 
turn,  enacted  a  body  of  laws,  which  thej  proposed  for  the 
assent  of  the  proprietary.  How  discreetly  they  proceeded 
cannot  now  be  known,  for  the  laws  which  were  then  enacted 
were  never  ratified,  and  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  provincial 
records. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  United  States,  popular  assem- 
blies burst  everywhere  into  life,  with  a  consciousness  of  their 
importance,  and  an  immediate  efficiency.  The  first  assembly 
of  Maryland  had  vindicated  the  jurisdiction  of  the  colony  ;  the 
second  had  asserted  its  claims  to  original  legislation  ;  in  1639, 
the  third  examined  its  obligations,  and,  though  its  acts  were 
not  carried  through  the  forms  essential  to  their  validity,  it 
showed  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  the  times  by  framing  a 
declaration  of  rights.  Acknowledging  allegiance  to  the  Eng- 
lish monarch  and  the  prerogatives  of  Lord  Baltimore,  it  con- 
firmed to  all  Christian  inhabitants  of  Maryland,  slaves  excepted, 
all  the  liberties  which  an  Englishman  enjoyed  at  home  by  vir- 
tue of  the  common  or  statute  law,  established  a  system  of  rep- 
resentative government,  and  asserted  for  their  general  assem- 
blies all  such  powers  as  were  exercised  by  the  commons  of 
England.  The  exception  of  slaves  implies  that  negro  slavery 
had  already  intruded  itself  into  the  province.  At  this  session, 
any  freeman,  who  had  not  taken  part  in  the  election,  might 
attend  in  person ;  thenceforward  the  governor  might  sum- 
mon his  friends  by  special  writ,  while  the  people  were  to 
choose  as  many  delegates  as  "  the  freemen  should  think  good." 
As  yet  there  was  no  jealousy  of  power,  no  strife  for  place. 
While  these  laws  prepared  a  frame  of  government  for  future 
generations,  we  are  reminded  of  the  feebleness  of  the  state, 
where  the  whole  people  contributed  to  "  the  setting  up  of  a 
water-mill." 

In  October,  1640,  the  legislative  assembly  of  Maryland,  in 
the  grateful  enjoyment  of  happiness,  seasonably  guarded  the 
tranquillity  of  the  province  against  the  perplexities  of  an  "  in- 
terim "  by  providing  for  the  security  of  the  government  in 
case  of  the  death  of  the  deputy  governor.  Commen3e  was 
fostered,  and  tobacco,  the  staple  of  the  colony,  subjected  to  in- 


1640-1644.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  165 

epection.  The  act  which  established  church  liberties  declares 
that  "  holy  church,  within  this  province,  shall  have  and  enjoy 
all  her  rights,  liberties,  and  franchises,  wholly  and  without 
blemish."  This  revival  of  a  clause  in  Magna  Charta,  cited  in 
the  preceding  century  by  some  of  the  separatists  as  a  guaran- 
tee of  their  religious  liberty,  was  practically  interpreted  as  in 
harmony  with  that  toleration  of  all  believers  in  the  divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ,  which  was  the  recognised  usage  of  the  land. 

]S"or  was  it  long  before  the  inhabitants  acknowledged  Lord 
Baltimore's  great  charge  and  solicitude  in  maintaining  the  gov- 
ernment, and  protecting  them  in  their  persons,  rights,  and  lib- 
erties ;  and,  therefore,  so  runs  the  statute  of  March,  1642,  "  out 
of  desire  to  return  some  testimony  of  gratitude,"  they  granted 
"  such  a  subsidy  as  the  young  and  poor  estate  of  the  colony 
could  bear."  Ever  intent  on  advancing  the  interests  of  his 
colony,  the  proprietary  invited  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts 
to  Maryland,  offering  them  lands  and  privileges,  and  "  free 
liberty  of  religion ; "  but  Gibbons,  to  whom  he  had  forwarded 
a  commission,  was  "so  wholly  tutored  in  the  'New  England 
discipline  "  that  he  would  not  advance  the  wishes  of  the  Irish 
peer,  and  the  people  were  not  tempted  to  desert  the  bay  of 
Massachusetts  for  the  Chesapeake. 

The  aborigines,  alarmed  at  the  rapid  increase  of  the  Euro- 
peans, and  vexed  at  being  frequently  overreached  by  their 
cupidity,  began  hostilities ;  for  the  Indians,  ignorant  of  the 
remedy  of  redress,  always  planned  retaliation.  After  a  war  of 
frontier  aggressions,  extending  from  1642  to  1644,  but  marked 
by  no  decisive  events,  peace  was  re-established  with  them  on 
the  usual  terms  of  submission  and  promises  of  friendship,  and 
rendered  durable  by  the  prudent  legislation  of  the  assembly 
and  the  humanity  of  the  government.  Kidnapping  them  was 
made  a  capital  offence,  the  sale  of  arms  to  them  prohibited  as 
a  felony,  and  the  pre-emption  of  the  soil  reserved  to  the  pro- 
prietary. 

To  this  right  of  pre-emption  Lord  Baltimore  would  suffer 
no  exception.  The  Jesuits  had  obtained  a  grant  of  land  from 
an  Indian  chief ;  the  proprietary,  "  intent  upon  his  own  affairs, 
and  not  fearing  to  violate  the  immunities  of  the  church,"  would 
not  allow  that  it  was  valid,  and  persisted  in  enforcing  against 


166  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEPJCA.     paet  i.  ;  oh.  x. 

Catholic  priests  the  necessity  of  obtaining  his  consent  before 
they  could  acquire  real  estate  in  his  province  in  any  wise,  even 
by  gift. 

In  the  mixed  population  of  Maryland,  where  the  adminis- 
tration was  in  the  hands  of  Catholics,  and  the  very  great  majority 
of  the  people  were  Protestants,  there  was  no  unity  of  sentiment 
out  of  which  a  domestic  constitution  could  have  harmoniously 
risen.  At  a  time  when  the  commotions  in  England  left  every 
colony  in  America  almost  unheeded,  and  Yirginia  and  New 
England  were  pursuing  a  course  of  nearly  independent  legis- 
lation, the  power  of  the  proprietary  was  almost  as  feeble  as 
that  of  the  king.  The  other  colonies  took  advantage  of  the 
period  to  secure  and  advance  their  liberties ;  in  Maryland  the 
effect  was  rather  to  encourage  insubordination ;  the  govern- 
ment vibrated  with  every  change  in  the  political  condition  of 
England. 

In  this  state  of  uncertainty,  Leonard  Calvert,  the  proprie- 
tary's deputy,  repaired  to  England  to  take  counsel  with  his 
brother.  During  his  absence,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  year 
1643,  a  London  ship,  commissioned  by  parliament,  anchored  in 
the  harbor  of  St.  Mary's ;  and  Brent,  the  acting  governor, 
under  a  general  authority  from  the  king  at  Oxford,  but  with 
an  indiscretion  which  was  in  contrast  with  the  caution  of  the 
proprietary,  seized  the  ship,  and  tendered  to  its  crew  an  oath 
against  the  parliament.  Kichard  Ingle,  the  commander,  hav- 
ing escaped,  in  January,  1644,  was  summoned  by  proclamation 
to  yield  himself  up,  while  witnesses  were  sought  after  to  con- 
vict him  of  treason.  The  new  commission  to  Governor  Cal- 
vert plainly  conceded  to  the  representatives  of  the  province 
the  right  of  originating  laws.  It  no  longer  required  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  king,  but  it  exacted  from  every  grantee  of 
land  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  proprietary.  This  last  measure 
proved  a  new  entanglement. 

In  September,  Calvert  returned  to  St.  Mary's  to  find  the 
colony  rent  by  factions,  and  Clayborne  still  restless  in  asserting 
his  claim  to  Kent  island.  Escaping  by  way  of  Jamestown  to 
London,  Ingle  had  obtained  there  a  letter  of  marque,  and, 
without  any  other  authority,  reappearing  in  Maryland,  he 
raised  the  standard  of  parliament  against  the  established  au- 


1644-1649.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  167 

thorities,  made  away  with  the  records  and  the  great  seal,  and, 
by  the  aid  of  Protestants,  compelled  the  governor  and  secre- 
tary, with  a  few  of  their  devoted  friends,  to  fly  to  Virginia. 
Father  White  and  the  other  Jesuit  missionaries  were  seized 
and  shipped  to  England ;  an  oath  of  submission  was  tendered 
to  the  inhabitants,  but  it  was  not  subscribed  by  even  one  Cath- 
olic. After  his  lawless  proceedings,  which  wrought  for  the 
colony  nothing  but  confusion  and  waste  of  property  and  in- 
surrectionary misrule.  Ingle  returned  to  England. 

A  fugitive  in  Yirginia,  Calvert,  in  1645,  asked  aid  of  that 
province.  Its  governor  and  council  "  could  send  him  no  help," 
but  they  invited  Clayborne"to  surcease  for  the  present  all 
intermeddling  with  the  government  of  the  isle  of  Kent." 
Their  offer  to  act  as  umpires  was  not  accepted.  Before  the 
close  of  the  year  1646,  Calvert  organized  a  force  strong  enough 
to  make  a  descent  upon  St.  Mary's,  and  recover  the  province. 
In  April,  1647,  he,  in  person,  reduced  Kent  island,  and  estab- 
lished Robert  Yaughan,  a  Protestant,  as  its  commander.  Tran- 
quillity returned  with  his  resumption  of  power,  and  was  con- 
lirrned  by  his  wise  clemency.  On  the  ninth  of  the  following 
June  he  died,  and  his  death  foreboded  for  the  colony  new  dis- 
asters, for,  during  the  troublous  times  which  followed,  no  one 
of  his  successors  had  his  prudence  or  his  ability.  His  imme- 
diate successor  was  Thomas  Greene,  a  Roman  Catholic. 

Meantime,  the  committee  of  plantations  at  London,  acting 
on  a  petition,  which  stated  truly  that  the  government  of  Mary- 
land, since  the  first  settlement  of  that  province,  had  been  in 
the  hands  of  recusants,  and  that  under  a  commission  from 
Oxford  it  had  seized  upon  a  ship  which  derived  its  commission 
from  parliament,  reported  both  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  dep- 
uty unfit  to  be  continued  in  their  charges,  and  recommended 
that  parliament  should  settle  the  government  of  the  plantation 
in  the  hands  of  Protestants. 

This  petition  was  read  in  the  house  of  lords  in  the  last 
week  of  the  year  1645 ;  but  neither  then  nor  in  the  two  fol- 
lowing years  were  definite  measures  adopted  by  parliament, 
and  the  politic  Lord  Baltimore  had  ample  time  to  prepare 
his  own  remedies.  To  appease  the  parliament,  he  removed 
Greene,  and  in  August,  1648,  appointed  in  his  place  William 


168  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     part  i.;  ch.  x. 

Stone,  a  Protestant,  of  the  church  of  England,  formerly  a 
sheriff  in  Virginia,  who  had  promised  to  lead  a  large  number 
of  emigrants  into  Maryland.  For  his  own  security,  he  bound 
his  Protestant  lieutenant,  i)r  chief  governor,  by  the  most  strin- 
gent oath  to  maintain  his  rights  and  dominion  as  absolute  lord 
and  proprietary  of  the  province  of  Maryland ;  and  the  oath, 
which  was  devised  in  1648,  and  not  before,  and  is  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  Maryland,  went  on  in  these  words :  ''  I  do 
further  swear  I  will  not  by  myself,  nor  any  other  person,  di- 
rectly trouble,  molest,  or  discountenance  any  person  whatso- 
ever in  the  said  province,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
and,  in  particular,  no  Roman  Catholic,  for  or  in  respect  of  his 
or  her  religion,  nor  his  or  her  free  exercise  thereof  within  the 
said  province,  so  as  they  be  not  unfaithful  to  his  said  lordship, 
or  molest  or  conspire  against  the  civil  government  established 
under  him."  To  quiet  and  unite  the  colony,  all  offences  of  the 
late  rebellion  were  effaced  by  a  general  amnesty ;  and,  at  the 
instance  of  the  Catholic  proprietary,  the  Protestant  governor, 
Stone,  and  his  council  of  six,  composed  equally  of  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  Mary- 
land, of  whom  ^ve  were  Catholics,  at  a  general  session  of  the 
assembly,  held  in  April,  1649,  placed  upon  their  statute-book 
an  act  for  the  religious  freedom  which,  by  the  unbroken  usage 
of  fifteen  years,  had  become  sacred  on  their  soil.  "And  whereas 
the  enforcing  of  the  conscience  in  matters  of  religion,"  such 
was  the  sublime  tenor  of  a  part  of  the  statute,  "  hath  frequently 
fallen  out  to  be  of  dangerous  consequence  in  those  common- 
wealths where  it  hath  been  practiced,  and  for  the  more  quiet 
and  peaceable  government  of  this  province,  and  the  better  to 
preserve  mutual  love  and  amity  among  the  inhabitants,  no  per- 
son within  this  province,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Clirist, 
shall  be  in  any  ways  troubled,  molested,  or  discountenanced, 
for  his  or  her  religion,  or  in  the  free  exercise  thereof."  Thus 
did  the  star  of  religious  freedom  harbinger  the  day ;  though, 
as  it  first  gleamed  above  the  horizon,  its  light  was  colored 
and  obscured  by  the  mists  and  exhalations  of  morning.  The 
Independents  of  England,  in  a  paper  which  they  called  "  the 
agreement  of  the  people,"  expressed  their  desire  to  grant  to 
all  believers  in  Jesus  Christ  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion ; 


1649-1650.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  169 

but  the  Long  Parliament  rejected  their  prayer,  and  in  May, 
1648,  passed  an  ordinance,  not  to  be  paralleled  among  Protes- 
tants for  its  atrocity,  imposing  death  as  the  penalty  for  holding 
any  one  of  eight  enumerated  heresies.  Not  conforming  wholly 
to  the  precedent,  the  clause  for  liberty  in  Maryland,  which  ex- 
tended only  to  Christians,  was  introduced  by  the  proviso  that 
"  whatsoever  person  shall  blaspheme  God,  or  shall  deny  or  re- 
proach the  Holy  Trinity,  or  any  of  the  three  persons  thereof, 
shall  be  punished  with  death." 

The  design  of  the  law  of  Maryland  was  undoubtedly  to 
protect  freedom  of  conscience ;  and,  some  years  after  it  had 
been  confirmed,  the  apologist  of  Lord  Baltimore  could  assert 
that  his  government,  in  conformity  with  his  strict  and  repeated 
injunctions,  had  never  given  disturbance  to  any  person  in  Mary- 
land for  matter  of  religion;  that  the  colonists  enjoyed  free- 
dom of  conscience,  not  less  than  freedom  of  person  and  estate. 
The  disfranchised  friends  of  prelacy  from  Massachusetts,  and 
the  exiled  Puritans  from  Virginia,  were  welcomed  to  equal 
liberty  of  conscience  and  political  rights  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic proprietary  of  Maryland ;  and  the  usage  of  the  province 
from  its  foundation  was  confirmed  by  its  statutes.  The  at- 
tractive influence  of  this  liberality  for  the  province  appeared 
immediately :  a  body  of  Puritans  or  Independents  in  Virginia, 
whom  Sir  William  Berkeley  had  ordered  to  leave  that  prov- 
ince for  their  nonconformity,  negotiated  successfully  with  the 
proprietary  for  lands  in  Maryland ;  and,  before  the  end  of  the 
year  1649,  the  greater  part  of  the  congregation  planted  them- 
selves on  the  banks  of  the  Severn.  To  their  place  of  refuge, 
now  known  as  Annapolis,  they  gave  the  name  of  Providence ; 
there  "  they  sat  down  joyfully,  and  cheerfully  followed  their 
vocations." 

An  equal  union  prevailed  between  all  branches  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  explaining  and  confirming  the  civil  liberties  of  the 
colony.  In  1642,  Robert  Vaughan,  in  the  name  of  the  rest  of 
the  burgesses,  had  desired  that  the  house  might  be  separated, 
and  thus  a  negative  secured  to  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
Before  1649,  this  change  had  taken  place  ;  and,  in  1650,  it  was 
established  by  an  enactment  constituting  a  legislature  in  two 

branches.    The  dangerous  prerogative  of  employing  martial  law 
VOL.  I. — 13 


170  ENGLISH  |»EOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  en.  x. 

was  limited  to  the  precincts  of  the  camp  and  the  garrison ;  and 
a  perpetual  act  declared  that  no  tax  should  be  levied  upon  the 
freemen  of  the  province,  except  by  the  vote  of  their  deputies 
in  a  general  assembly.  Well  might  the  freemen  of  Maryland 
place  upon  their  records  an  acknowledgment  of  gratitude  to 
their  proprietary,  "as  a  memorial  to  all  posterities,"  and  a 
pledge  that  succeeding  generations  would  faithfully  "  remem- 
ber" his  care  and  industry  in  advancing  "the  peace  and  hap- 
piness of  the  colony." 

The  revolutions  in  England  could  not  but  affect  the  desti- 
nies of  the  colonies ;  and,  while  l^ew  England  and  Yirginia 
vigorously  advanced  their  liberties  under  a  salutary  neglect, 
Maryland  was  involved  in  the  miseries  of  ^^isputed  adminis- 
tration. Doubts  were  raised  as  to  the  authority  to  which  obedi- 
ence was  due  ;  and  the  government  of  benevolence,  good  order, 
and  toleration,  was,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  abandoned 
for  the  misrule  of  bigotry  and  the  anarchy  of  a  disputed  sover- 
eignty. When  the  throne  and  the  peerage  had  been  subverted 
in  England,  it  might  be  questioned  whether  the  mimic  mon- 
archy of  Lord  Baltimore  should  be  permitted  to  continue ;  and 
scrupulous  Puritans  hesitated  to  take  an  unqualified  oath  of 
fealty.  Englishmen  were  no  longer  lieges  of  a  sovereign,  but 
members  of  a  commonwealth ;  and,  but  for  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land would  equally  enjoy  republican  liberty.  Great  as  was 
the  temptation  to  assert  independence,  it  would  not  have  pre- 
vailed, could  the  peace  of  the  province  have  been  maintained. 
But  who,  it  might  well  be  asked,  was  the  sovereign  of  Mary- 
land ?  "  Beauty  and  extraordinary  goodness  "  were  her  dowry ; 
and  she  was  claimed  by  four  separate  aspirants.  Yirginia, 
pushed  on  by  Clayborne,  was  ready  to  revive  its  rights  to  juris- 
diction beyond  the  Potomac  ;  Charles  II.,  incensed  against 
Lord  Baltimore  for  his  adhesion  to  the  rebels  and  his  tolera- 
tion of  schismatics,  had  issued  a  commission  as  governor  to 
Sir  William  Davenant ;  Stone  was  the  active  deputy  of  Lord 
Baltimore ;  and  the  Long  Parliament  prepared  to  intervene. 

In  the  ordinance  of  1650,  for  the  reduction  of  the  rebellious 
colonies,  Maryland  was  not  included.  Charles  II.  had  been 
inconsiderately  proclaimed  by  Greene,  while  acting  as  governor 
during  an  absence  of  Stone  in  Yirginia,  and  assurances  had 


1650-1654.  COLONIZATION  OF  MARYLAND.  171 

been  given  of  the  fidelity  of  the  proprietary  to  the  common* 
wealth,  but  the  proclamation  was  disavowed.  Still  the  popisbi 
monarchical  Baltimore  had  wakeful  opponents.  In  the  pa- 
per instructing  the  parliamentary  commissioners  of  September,, 
1651,  the  name  of  Maryland  twice  found  a  place,  and,  at  the 
proprietary's  representation,  was  twice  struck  out ;  yet,  in  the 
last  draft  of  the  following  March,  they  were,  by  some  unknown 
influence,  empowered  to  reduce  "all  the  plantations  within 
the  bay  of  the  Chesapeake."  Bennett,  then  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  Clayborne  accordingly  entered  the  province. 

In  the  settlement  with  Yirginia,  the  commissioners  had 
aimed  at  reannexing  the  territory  of  Maryland  ;  but  they 
dared  not  of  themselves  enforce  that  agreement.  The  offer 
was  therefore  made,  that  the  proprietary's  oiScers  should  re- 
main in  their  places,  if,  without  infringing  his  just  rights,  they 
would  conform  to  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth  of  England 
in  point  of  government ;  but  they  refused  to  issue  forth  writs 
in  the  name  of  the  Keepers  of  the  Liberty  of  England,  saying 
"  they  could  not  do  it  without  breach  of  their  trust  and  oath." 
Thereupon  Bennett  and  his  associate  took  possession  of  the 
commissions  of  Stone  and  his  council,  declared  them  to  be  null 
and  void,  and  of  their  own  authority  appointed  an  executive 
council  to  direct  the  affairs  of  Maryland.  For  the  following 
June  an  assembly  was  to  be  summoned,  of  which  the  burgesses 
were  to  be  chosen  only  by  freemen  who  had  taken  the  engage- 
ment to  the  commonwealth  of  England,  as  established  without, 
house  of  lords  or  king. 

The  assembly  of  Yirginia,  which  met  at  James  City  on  the 
last  day  of  April,  did  not  give  effect  to  the  article  restoring  its 
ancient  bounds,  but  awaited  instructions  from  the  parliament 
of  England.  After  organizing  its  government,  the  commis- 
sioners, who  had  attended  the  session,  returned  to  Maryland ;, 
and  there,  conforming  to  the  manifest  desire  of  the  inhabitants,, 
they  reinstated  Stone  as  governor,  with  a  council  of  which 
three  at  least  were  the  friends  of  Lord  Baltimore,  on  no  other 
condition  than  their  acquiescence  in  what  had  been  done.  The 
government  thus  instituted  "  being  to  the  liking  of  the  people," 
the  calling  of  an  assembly  was  postponed.  The  restoration  of 
Kent  island  to  Clayborne  was  aimed  at  indirectly,  by  a  treaty 


1Y2  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  x. 

with  the  Susquehannahs,  from  whom  his  original  title  was 
derived. 

In  England,  Lord  Baltimore  was  roused  to  the  utmost 
efforts  to  preserve  his  province.  He  gave  reasons  of  state  to 
show  the  importance  of  not  reuniting  it  to  Virginia  to  the 
prejudice  of  his  patent.  He  even  sought  to  strengthen  his 
case  by  dwelling  on  the  monarchical  tendencies  of  Virginia, 
and  holding  up  Maryland  and  'New  England  as  "  the  only  two 
provinces  that  did  not  declare  against  the  parliament."  His 
argument  was  supported  by  a  petition  from  himself  and  his 
associate  adventurers,  and  from  traders  and  planters  in  Mary- 
land. The  Long  Parliament  referred  the  question  of  bounds 
to  their  committee  of  the  navy,  who  had  power  to  send  for 
persons  and  papers.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year  that  com- 
mittee made  an  elaborate  and  impartial  report ;  but,  before  the 
controversy  could  be  decided,  the  Long  Parliament  was  turned 
out  of  doors. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament  threatened  a 
change  in  the  political  condition  of  Maryland.  It  was  argued 
that  the  only  authority  under  which  Bennett  and  Clayborne 
had  acted  had  expired  with  the  body  from  which  it  was  de- 
rived. In  February,  1654,  Stone  required  b^proclamation  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  proprietary,  as  the  condition  of  grants  of 
lands.  The  housekeepers  of  Anne  Arundel  county  promptly 
objected  to  the  oath ;  so  did  Francis  Preston  and  sixty  others, 
and  they  protested  against  the  restoration  of  the  old  form  of 
government.  Bennett  and  Clayborne  bade  them  stand  fast  by 
the  form  which  the  commissioners  had  established.  About  the 
middle  of  July — though  Stone  had  in  May  proclaimed  Crom- 
well as  lord  protector,  fired  salutes  in  his  honor,  and  com- 
memorated the  solemnity  by  grants  of  pardon — Bennett  and 
Clayborne,  then  governor  and  secretary  of  Virginia,  came  to 
Maryland,  and  raised  as  soldiers  the  inhabitants  on  the  Patux- 
ent  river,  with  those  of  Anne  Arundel  and  of  the  isle  of 
Kent,  to  take  the  government  out  of  his  hands.  The  party 
which  supported  him,  and  which  consisted  in  part  of  Protes- 
tants, prepared  for  defence.  "  But  those  few  papists  that 
were  in  Maryland,  for  indeed  they  were  but  few,"  so  writes 
one   of    their  friends,  '*  importunately  persuaded    Governor 


1654-1656.  COLONIZATION   OF  MARYLAND.  173 

Stone  not  to  fight,  lest  the  cry  against  the  papists,  if  any  hurt 
were  done,  would  be  so  great  that  many  mischiefs  would  ensue, 
wholly  referring  themselves  to  the  will  of  God  and  the  lord 
protector's  determination."  Yielding  to  their  advice  against 
that  of  his  Protestant  friends,  Stone  surrendered  his  commis- 
sion into  their  hands,  and,  under  compulsion,  pledged  himself 
in  writing  to  submit  to  such  government  as  should  be  set  over 
the  province  by  the  commissioners  in  the  name  of  the  lord 
protector.  Two  days  after  his  resignation,  Bennett  and  Clay- 
borne  appointed  Captain  William  Fuller  and  nine  others 
commissioners  for  governing  Maryland.  They  were  enjoined 
to  summon  an  assembly  for  which  all  who  had  borne  arms 
against  the  parliament  or  professed  the  Eoman  Catholic  reli- 
gion were  disabled  to  vote  or  to  be  elected. 

Parties  became  identified  with  religious  sects,  and  Maryland 
itself  was  the  prize  for  which  they  contended.  The  new  assem- 
bly, representing  a  faction,  not  the  whole  people,  coming  to- 
gether at  Patuxent  in  October,  acknowledged  the  authority  of 
Cromwell,  but  it  disfranchised  the  whole  Romish  party.  Fol- 
lowing the  precedent  established  by  an  ordinance  of  the  Long 
Parliament,  it  confirmed  the  liberty  of  religion,  provided  the 
liberty  were  not  extended  to  **  popery,  prelacy,  or  licentious- 
ness "  of  opinion.  The  cedar  and  the  myrtle  and  the  oil-tree 
might  no  longer  be  planted  in  the  wilderness  together. 

When  the  proprietary  heard  of  these  proceedings,  he  re- 
proved his  lieutenant  for  want  of  firmness.  The  pretended 
assembly  was  esteemed  "  illegal,  mutinous,  and  usurped,"  and 
his  ofiBcers,  under  the  powers  which  the  charter  conferred,  pre- 
pared to  vindicate  his  supremacy.  Toward  the  end  of  Janu- 
ary, 1655,  on  the  receipt  of  news  from  London,  it  was  noised 
abroad  that  his  patent  was  upheld  by  the  protector,  and  Stone, 
pleading  that  his  written  resignation  to  the  ten  commissioners 
was  invalid,  because  extorted  from  him  by  force,  began  to  issue 
orders  for  the  restoration  of  his  authority.  Papists  and  friendly 
Protestants  received  authority  to  levy  men,  and  the  leaders  of 
this  new  appeal  to  arms  were  able  to  surprise  and  get  posses- 
sion of  the  provincial  records.  In  the  last  week  in  March, 
they  moved  from  Patuxent  toward  Anne  Arundel,  the  chief 
seat  of  the  republicans.     The  inhabitants  of  Providence  and 


174  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA.     pa.et  i.  ;  ch.  x. 

their  partisans  gathered  together  with  superior  zeal  and  cour- 
age. Aided  by  the  Golden  Lyon,  an  English  ship  which  hap- 
pened then  to  be  in  the  waters  of  the  Severn,  they  attacked 
and  discomfited  the  party  of  Stone.  After  the  skirmish,  the 
governor,  upon  quarter  given  him,  yielded  himself  and  his 
company  as  prisoners ;  but,  two  or  three  days  after,  the  victors, 
by  a  council  of  war,  condemned  him,  his  councillors,  and  some 
others — in  all,  ten  in  number — to  be  shot.  Eltonhead,  one  of 
the  condemned,  appealed  to  Cromwell,  but  in  vain,  and  sen- 
tence was  presently  executed  upon  him  and  three  others.  Of 
the  four,  three  were  Koman  Catholics.  The  remaining  six, 
some  on  the  way  to  execution,  were  saved  "  by  the  begging 
of  good  women  and  friends  "  who  chanced  to  be  there,  or  by 
the  soldiers ;  it  was  to  the  intercession  of  the  latter  that  Gov- 
ernor Stone  owed  his  life.  Kushing  into  the  houses  of  the 
Jesuits,  men  demanded  "  the  impostors,"  as  they  called  them, 
but  the  fathers  escaped  to  hiding-places  in  Yirginia. 

A  friend  to  Lord  Baltimore,  then  in  the  province,  begged 
of  the  protector  no  other  boon  than  that  he  would  "  conde- 
scend to  settle  the  country  by  declaring  his  determinate  will ; " 
and  yet  the  same  causes  which  led  Cromwell  to  neglect  the 
internal  concerns  of  Yirginia  compelled  him  to  pay  but  little 
attention  to  the  disturbances  in  Maryland.  On  the  one  hand, 
he  respected  the  rights  of  property  of  Lord  Baltimore ;  on  the 
other,  he  "  would  not  have  a  stop  put  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
commissioners  who  were  authorized  to  settle  the  civil  govern- 
ment." The  right  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Maryland  remained, 
therefore,  a  disputed  question. 

In  July,  1656,  Lord  Baltimore  commissioned  Josiah  Fen- 
dall  as  his  lieutenant,  and,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  sent  over 
his  brother  Pliilip  as  councillor  and  principal  secretary  of  the 
province.  The  ten  men  none  the  less  continued  to  exercise 
authority,  and,  "for  his  dangerousness,"  they^  held  Fendall 
under  arrest,  until,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  court,  he  took  an 
oath  not  to  disturb  their  government,  but  to  await  a  final  deci- 
sion from  England.  To  England,  therefore,  he  sailed  the  next 
year,  that  he  might  consult  with  Baltimore,  leaving  Barber,  a 
former  member  of  Cromwell's  household,  as  his  deputy.  Still 
the  protector,  by  reason  "  of  his  great  affairs,"  had  not  leisure  to 


1656-1660.  COLONIZATION   OF  MARYLAND.  176 

consider  tlie  report  of  the  commissioners  for  trade  on  the  affairs 
of  Maryland.  At  last,  in  November,  1657,  Lord  Baltimore,  by 
"  the  friendly  endeavors  of  Edward  Digges,"  negotiated  with 
Bennett  and  Matthews,  all  being  then  in  England,  an  agree- 
ment for  the  recovery  of  his  province.  The  proprietary  cove- 
nanted so  far  to  waive  his  right  of  jurisdiction  as  to  leave  the 
settlement  of  past  offences  and  differences  to  the  disposal  of 
the  protector  and  his  council ;  to  grant  the  land  claims  of  "  the 
people  in  opposition,"  without  requiring  of  them  an  oath  of 
fidelity,  but  only  some  engagement  for  his  support ;  and,  lastly, 
he  promised  for  himself  never  to  consent  to  a  repeal  "  of  the 
law  whereby  all  persons  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
have  freedom  of  conscience  there." 

Returning  to  his  government  with  instructions,  Fendall,  in 
the  following  March,  held  an  interview  with  Fuller,  Preston, 
and  the  other  commissioners,  at  St.  Leonards,  when  the  agree- 
ment was  carried  into  effect.  The  Puritans  were  further  per- 
mitted to  retain  their  arms,  and  were  assured  of  indemnity. 
The  proceedings  of  the  assemblies  and  the  courts  of  justice 
since  the  year  1652,  in  so  far  as  they  related  to  questions  of 
property,  were  confirmed.  ,  ,   ,  . 

Wearied  with  the  convulsions  of  ten  years,  a  general  assem- 
bly, on  the  death  of  Cromwell,  saw  no  security  but  in  asserting 
the  power  of  the  people,  and  constituting,  the  government  on 
the  expression  of  their  will.  Accordingly,  on  the  twelfth  of 
March,  1660,  just  one  day  before  that  memorable  session  of 
Virginia,  when  the  people  of  the  Ancient  Dominion  adopted  a 
similar  system  of  independent  legislation,  the  representatives 
of  Maryland,  meeting  in  the  house  of  Robert  Slye,  voted  them- 
selves a  lawful  assembly,  without  dependence  on  any  other 
power  in  the  province.  The  burgesses  of  Virginia  assumed 
to  themselves  the  election  of  the  council ;  the  burgesses  of 
Maryland  refused  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of  the  body 
claiming  to  be  an  upper  house.  In  Virginia,  Berkeley  yield- 
ed to  the  popular  will ;  in  Maryland,  Fendall  permitted  the 
power  of  the  people  to  be  proclaimed.  The  representa- 
tives of  Maryland  having  settled  the  government,  independ- 
ent of  their  proprietary  and  of  his  governor  and  council,  and 
hoping  for  tranquillity  after  years  of  storms,  passed   an  act 


176  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  x. 

making  it  felony  to  disturb  the  order  which  they  had  estab- 
lished. 

Maryland,  like  Virginia,  at  the  epoch  of  the  restoration, 
was  in  full  possession  of  liberty,  by  the  practical  exercise  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  Like  Virginia,  it  had  so  nearly 
completed  its  institutions  that,  till  the  epoch  of  its  final  sepa- 
ration from  England,  it  hardly  made  any  further  advances 
toward  freedom  and  independence. 

Men  love  liberty,  even  if  it  be  turbulent,  and  the  colony 
had  increased,  and  flourished,  and  grown  rich,  in  spite  of  do- 
mestic dissensions.  Its  population,  in  1660,  is  variously  esti- 
mated at  twelve  thousand  and  at  eight  thousand ;  the  latter 
number  is  probably  nearer  the  truth.  The  country  was  dear 
to  its  inhabitants.  There  they  desired  to  spend  the  remnant 
of  their  lives — there  to  make  their  graves. 


1521-1534.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  177 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PRELATES    AND   PURITANS. 

The  settlement  of  IN'ew  England  was  a  result  of  implaca- 
ble differences  between  Protestant  dissenters  in  England  and 
the  established  Anglican  church. 

Who  will  venture  to  measure  the  consequences  of  actions 
by  the  humility  or  the  remoteness  of  their  origin  ?  The 
Power  which  enchains  the  destinies  of  states,  overruling  the 
decisions  of  sovereigns  and  the  forethought  of  statesmen,  often 
deduces  the  greatest  events  from  the  least  considered  causes. 
A  Genoese  adventurer,  discovering  America,  changed  the 
commerce  of  the  world ;  an  obscure  German,  inventing  the 
printing-press,  rendered  possible  the  universal  diffusion  of 
ever-increasing  intelligence  ;  an  Augustine  monk,  denouncing 
indulgences,  introduced  a  schism  in  religion  which  changed 
the  foundations  of  European  politics ;  a  young  French  refu- 
gee, skilled  alike  in  theology  and  civil  law,  in  the  duties  of - 
magistrates  and  the  dialectics  of  religious  controversy,  enter- 
ing the  republic  of  Geneva,  and  conforming  its  ecclesiastical 
discipline  to  the  principles  of  republican  simplicity,  estab- 
lished a  party  of  which  Englishmen  became  members,  and 
New  England  the  asylum. 

In  Germany,  the  reformation,  which  aimed  at  the  regener- 
ation of  the  world  in  doctrine  and  in  morals,  sprung  from  the 
son  of  a  miner  of  the  peasant  class — from  Martin  Luther — of 
whom  Leibnitz  says :  "  This  is  he  who,  in  later  times,  taught 
the  human  race  hope  and  free  thought."  Trained  in  the 
school  of  Paul  of  Tarsus  through  the  African  Augustine, 
Luther  insisted  that  no  man  can  impersonate  or  transmit  the 
authority  of  God ;  that  power  over  souls  belongs  to  no  order ; 


178  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     pakt  i.  ;  oh.  xl 

that  clergy  and  laity  are  of  one  condition ;  that  "  any  Christian 
can  remit  sins  just  as  well  as  a  priest ; "  that  "  ordination  by  a 
bishop  is  no  better  than  an  election ;  "  that  "  the  priest  is  but 
the  holder  of  an  office,"  "  the  pope  but  our  school-fellow ;  "  and, 
collecting  all  in  one  great  formulary,  he  declared  :  "  Justifica- 
tion is  by  faith,  by  faith  alone."  Every  man  must  work  out 
his  own  salvation  ;  no  other,  "  not  priest,  nor  bishop,  nor  pope 
— no,  nor  all  the  prophets  " — can  serve  for  the  direct  connec- 
tion of  the  reason  of  the  individual  with  the  infinite  and  eter- 
nal intelligence. 

The  principle  of  justification  by  faith  alone  brought  with  it 
the  freedom  of  individual  thought  and  conscience  against 
authority.  "  If  fire,"  said  Luther,  "  is  the  right  cure  for  her- 
esy, then  the  fagot-burners  are  the  most  learned  doctors  on 
earth ;  nor  need  we  study  any  more ;  he  that  has  brute  force 
on  his  side  may  burn  his  adversary  at  the  stake."  "  I  will 
preach,  speak,  write  the  truth,  but  will  force  it  on  no  one,  for 
faith  must  be  accepted  willingly,  and  without  compulsion." 

To  the  question  whether  the  people  may  judge  for  them- 
selves what  to  believe,  Luther  answers  :  "  All  bishops  that  take 
the  right  of  judgment  of  doctrine  from  the  sheep  are  cer- 
tainly to  be  held  as  wolves ;  Christ  gives  the  right  of  judg- 
ment to  the  scholars  and  to  the  sheep  ;  St.  Paul  will  have  no 
proposition  accepted  till  it  has  been  proved  and  recognised  as 
good  by  the  congregation  that  hears  it." 

And  should  "  the  pastor,"  "  the  minister  of  the  word,"  be 
called,  inducted,  and  deposed  by  the  congregation  ?  "  Princes 
and  lords,"  said  Luther,  "  cannot  with  any  color  refuse  them 
the  right."  This  he  enforced  on  "the  emperor  and  Chris- 
tian nobles  of  the  German  nation."  This  he  upheld  when  it 
was  put  forward  by  the  peasants  of  Suabia. 

The  reformation  in  England — an  event  which  had  been 
long  and  gradually  prepared  among  its  people  by  the  widely 
accepted  teachings  of  Wycliffe ;  among  its  scholars  by  the 
revival  of  letters,  the  presence,  the  personal  influence,  and  the 
writings  of  Erasmus,  and  the  liberal  discourses  of  preachers 
trained  in  the  new  learning ;  among  the  courtiers  by  the  fre- 
quent resistance  of  English  kings  to  the  usurpations  of  eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction — was  abruptly  introduced  by  a  passionate 


1534*1547.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  179 

and  overbearing  monarch,  acting  in  conjunction  with  his  par- 
liament to  emancipate  the  crown  of  England  from  all  subjec- 
tion to  an  alien  pontiff. 

In  the  history  of  the  English  constitution,  this  measure  of 
definitive  resistance  to  the  pope  was  memorable  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  real  greatness  of  the  house  of  commons ;  and  when 
Clement  YII.  excommunicated  the  king,  and  Paul  III.  invited 
Catholic  Europe  to  reduce  all  his  subjects  who  supported  him 
to  poverty  and  bondage,  it  was  in  the  commons  that  the  crown 
found  countervailing  support.  But  there  was  no  thought  of 
a  radical  reform  in  morals  ;  nor  did  any  one  mighty  creative 
mind,  like  that  of  Luther  or  Calvin,  infuse  into  the  people  a 
new  spiritual  life.  So  far  was  the  freedom  of  private  inquiry 
from  being  recognised  as  a  right,  that  even  the  means  of  form- 
ing a  judgment  on  religious  subjects  was  denied.  /  The  act  of 
supremacy,  which,  on  the  fourth  of  l^ovember,  1534,  severed 
the  English  nation  from  the  Roman  see,  was  but  "  the  manu- 
mitting and  enfranchising  of  the  regal  dignity  from  the  recog- 
nition of  a  foreign  superior."  It  did  not  aim  at  enfranchising 
the  English  church,  far  less  the  English  people  or  the  English 
mind.  The  king  of  England  became  the  pope  in  his  own  do- 
minions ;  and  heresy  was  still  accounted  the  foulest  of  crimes. 
The  right  of  correcting  errors  of  religious  faith  became,  by  the 
suffrage  of  parliament,  a  branch  of  the  royal  prerogative  ;  and, 
in  1539,  as  active  minds  among  the  people  w^ere  continually 
proposing  new  schemes  of  doctrine,  a  statute  was,  after  great 
opposition  in  parliament,  enacted  "  for  abolishing  diversity 
of  opinions."  Almost  all  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrines  were 
asserted,  except  the  supremacy  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  The 
pope  could  praise  Henry  YIII.  for  orthodoxy,  while  he  ex- 
communicated him  for  disobedience.  He  commended  to  the 
wavering  emperor  the  English  sovereign  as  a  model  for  sound- 
ness of  belief,  and  anathematized  him  only  for  contumacy.  It 
was  Henry's  pride  to  defy  the  authority  of  the  Roman  bishop, 
and  yet  to  enforce  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  church.  He 
was  as  tenacious  of  his  reputation  for  Catholic  orthodoxy  as  of 
his  claim  to  spiritual  dominion.  He  disdained  submission,  and 
he  detested  heresy. 

Nor  was  Henry  YIII.  slow  to  sustain  his  new  prerogatives. 


180  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xi. 

According  to  ancient  usage,  no  sentence  of  death,  awarded  bj 
the  ecclesiastical  courts,  could  be  carried  into  effect  until  a 
writ  had  been  obtained  from  the  king.  The  regulation  had 
been  adopted  in  a  spirit  of  mercy,  securing  to  the  temporal 
authorities  the  power  of  restraining  persecution.  The  heretic 
might  appeal  from  the  atrocity  of  the  priest  to  the  mercy  of 
the  prince.  But  what  hope  remained  when  the  two  authori- 
ties were  united,  and  the  law,  which  had  been  enacted  as  a 
protection  of  the  subject,  became  the  instrument  of  tyranny ! 
;N"o  virtue,  no'  eminence,  conferred  security.  JS'ot  the  forms 
of  worship  merely,  but  the  minds  of  men,  were  declared  sub- 
ordinate to  the  government ;  faith,  not  less  than  ceremony, 
was  to  vary  with  the  acts  of  parliament.  Death  was  denounced 
against  the  Catholic  who  denied  the  king's  supremacy,  and  the 
Protestant  who  doubted  his  creed.  Had  Luther  been  an  Eng- 
lishman, he  might  have  perished  by  fire.  In  the  latter  part 
of  his  life,  Henry  revoked  the  general  permission  of  reading 
the  scriptures,  and  limited  the  privilege  to  merchants  and 
nobles.  He  always  adhered  to  his  old  religion,  and  died  in 
the  Koman  rather  than  in  the  Protestant  faith.  The  environs 
of  the  court  displayed  no  resistance  to  the  capricious  monarch ; 
parliament  yielded  him  absolute  authority  in  religion  ;  but  the 
awakened  intelligence  of  a  great  nation  could  not  be  terrified 
into  a  passive  lethargy ;  and,  even  though  it  sometimes  faltered 
in  its  progress,  steadily  demanded  the  emancipation  of  the  pub- 
lic mind. 

The  people  were  still  accustomed  to  the  Catholic  forms  of 
worship  and  of  belief,  when,  in  January,  1547,  the  accession 
of  the  boy  Edward  YI.,  England's  only  Puritan  king,  opened 
the  way  to  changes  within  its  church.  The  reform  had  made 
great  advances  among  the  French  and  among  the  Swiss.  Both 
Luther  and  Calvin  brought  the  individual  into  immediate  re- 
lation with  God ;  but  Calvin,  under  a  militant  form  of  doc- 
trine, lifted  the  individual  above  pope  and  prelate,  and  priest 
and  presbyter,  above  Catholic  church  and  national  church  and 
general  synod,  above  indulgences,  remissions,  and  absolutions 
from  fellow-mortals,  and  brought  him  into  the  immediate  de- 
pendence on  God,  whose  eternal,  irreversible  decree  is  made 
hf  himself  alone,  not  arbitrarily,  but  according  to  his  own 


1547-1553.  PRELATES   AND  PURITANS.  181 

highest  wisdom  and  justice.  Luther  spared  the  altar,  and 
hesitated  to  deny  totally  the  real  presence ;  Calvin,  with  supe- 
rior dialectics,  accepted  as  a  commemoration  and  a  seal  the 
rites  which  the  Catholics  revered  as  a  sacrifice.  Luther  favored 
magnificence  in  public  worship,  as  an  aid  to  devotion  ;  Calvin, 
the  guide  of  republics,  avoided  in  their  churches  all  appeals  to 
the  senses,  as  a  peril  to  pure  religion.  Luther  condemned  the 
Roman  church  for  its  immorality ;  Calvin,  for  its  idolatry. 
Luther  exposed  the  folly  of  superstition,  ridiculed  the  hair 
shirt  and  the  scourge,  the  purchased  indulgence,  and  dearly 
bought,  worthless  masses  for  the  dead;  Calvin  shrunk  from 
their  criminality  with  impatient  horror.  Luther  permitted 
the  cross  and  the  taper,  pictures  and  images,  as  things  of  in- 
difference ;  Calvin  demanded  a  spiritual  worship  in  its  utmost 
purity.  Luther,  not  from  his  own  choice  but  from  the  over- 
ruling necessities  of  his  position,  left  the  organization  of  the 
church  to  princes  and  governments ;  Calvin  reformed  doc- 
trine, ritual,  and  practice ;  and,  by  establishing  ruling  elders 
in  each  church  and  an  elective  synod,  he  secured  to  his  polity 
a  representative  character,  which  combined  authority  with  pop- 
ular rights.  Both  Luther  and  Calvin  insisted  that,  for  each 
one,  there  is  and  can  be  no  other  priest  than  himself ;  and,  as 
a  consequence,  both  agreed  in  the  parity  of  the  clergy.  Both 
were  of  one  mind  that,  should  pious  laymen  choose  one  of 
their  number  to  be  their  minister,  "  the  man  so  chosen  would 
be  as  truly  a  priest  as  if  all  the  bishops  in  the  world  had  con- 
secrated him." 

In  the  regency  which  was  established  in  1547,  during  the 
minority  of  Edward,  the  reforming  party  had  the  majority. 
Calvin  made  an  appeal  to  Somerset,  the  protector;  and,  burn- 
ing with  zeal  to  include  the  whole  people  of  England  in  a 
perfect  unity  with  the  reformers  of  the  continent,  he  urged 
Cranmer  to  call  together  pious  and  rational  men,  educated  in 
the  school  of  God,  to  meet  and  agree  upon  one  uniform  con- 
fession of  Christian  doctrine,  according  to  the  rule  of  scripture. 
"  As  for  me,"  he  said,  "  if  I  can  be  made  use  of,  I  will  sail 
through  ten  seas  to  bring  this  about." 

In  the  first  year  of  the  new  reign,  Peter  Martyr  and  another 
from  the  continent  were  summoned  to  Oxford.     The  Book  of 


182  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     i'art  i.  ;  ch.  xi. 

Homilies,  which  held  forth  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith,  prepared  by  Cranmer  in  the  year  1547,  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  further  reform ;  and  in  the  next  appeared  Cranmer's 
first  Book  of  the  Common  Prayer,  in  which,  however,  there 
lurked  many  superstitions.  Bucer,  who,  in  1549,  was  called 
to  Cambridge,  complained  of  the  backwardness  of  "  the  refor- 
mation." "  Do  not  abate  your  speed,  because  you  approach 
the  goal,"  wrote  Calvin  to  Cranmer.  "By  too  much  delay 
the  harvest-time  will  pass  by,  and  the  cold  of  a  perpetual  win- 
ter set  in.  The  more  age  weighs  on  you,  the  more  swiftly 
ought  you  to  press  on,  lest  your  conscience  reproach  you  for 
your  tardiness,  should  you  go  from  the  world  while  things 
still  lie  in  confusion."  The  tendency  of  the  governing  mind 
appeared  from  the  appointment,  in  1551,  of  John  Knox,  as  a 
royal  chaplain.  Cranmer  especially  desired  to  come  to  an 
agreement  with  the  reformed  church  on  the  eucharist ;  and, 
on  that  subject,  his  liturgy  of  1552  adopted  the  teaching  of 
Calvin ;  the  priest  became  a  minister,  the  altar  a  table,  the 
bread  and  wine  a  commemoration.  Exorcism  in  the  rite  of 
baptism,  auricular  confession,  the  use  of  consecrated  oil,  prayers 
for  the  dead,  were  abolished.  "  The  Anglican  liturgy,"  wrote 
Calvin  of  this  revised  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  "  wants  the 
purity  which  was  to  have  been  wished  for,  yet  its  fooleries  can 
be  borne  with." 

The  forty-two  articles  of  religion  digested  by  Cranmer,  and, 
in  1553,  promulgated  by  royal  authority,  set  forth  the  creed  of 
the  evangelical  church  as  that  of  all  England.  In  the  grow- 
ing abhorrence  of  superstition,  the  inquisitive  mind,  especially 
in  the  cities,  asked  for  greater  simplicity  in  the  vestments  of 
ministers  and  in  the  forms  of  devotion.  JS'ot  a  rite  remained 
of  which  the  fitness  was  not  questioned.  The  authority  of 
all  traditions,  of  papal  bulls  and  briefs,  encyclicals  and  epis- 
tles, and  of  decrees  of  councils,  was  done  away  with ;  and  the 
austere  principle  announced  that  neither  symbol,  nor  vest- 
ment, nor  ceremony,  nor  bowing  at  a  name,  nor  kneeling  at  an 
emblem,  should  be  endured,  unless  it  was  set  forth  in  the 
word  of  God.  The  churchmen  desired  to  differ  from  the 
ancient  forms  as  little  as  possible,  and  readily  adopted  the  use 
of  things  indifferent ;  the  Puritans  could  not  sever  themselves 


1553-1558.  PRELATES   AND  PURITANS.  1S3 

too  widely  from  the  Roman  usages.  A  more  complete  reform 
was  demanded ;  and  the  friends  of  the  established  liturgy  ex- 
pressed in  the  prayer-book  itself  a  wish  for  its  furtherance. 

Of  the  insurrections  in  the  reign  of  Edward,  all  but  one 
sprung  from  the  oppression  of  the  landlords.  England  ac- 
cepted the  reformation,  though  the  want  of  good  preachers 
impeded  the  training  of  the  people  in  its  principles.  There 
was  no  agreement  among  the  bishops  on  doctrine  or  discipline. 
Many  parishes  were  the  property  of  the  nobles ;  many  ecclesi- 
astics, some  even  of  those  who  affected  to  be  evangelical,  were 
pluralists,  and  left  their  parochial  duties  to  those  who  would 
serve  at  the  lowest  price,  even  though  sometimes  they  could 
not  read  English.  Lay  proprietors,  who  had  taken  the  lands 
of  the  monasteries,  saved  themselves  from  paying  pensions 
to  dispossessed  monks  by  setting  them,  however  ignorant  or 
unfit,  over  parishes.  In  some  a  sermon  had  not  been  preached 
for  years. 

In  this  state  of  public  worship  throughout  the  land,  Mary, 
in  July,  ascended  the  throne,  and,  by  her  zeal  to  restore  the 
old  religion,  became  the  chief  instrument  in  establishing  the 
new.  The  people  are  swayed  more  by  their  emotions  than  by 
dialectics ;  and,  where  two  parties  appear  before  them,  the 
majority  is  most  readily  roused  for  that  one  which  appeals  to 
the  heart.  Mary  offended  English  nationality  by  taking  the 
king  of  Spain  for  her  husband ;  and,  while  the  statesmen  of 
Edward's  time  had  not  been  able  to  reach  the  country  by 
preachers,  she  startled  the  dwellers  in  every  parish  in  England 
by  the  fires  which  she  lighted  at  Gloucester  and  Oxford  and 
Smithfield,  where  prelates  and  ministers,  and  men  and  women 
of  the  most  exemplary  lives,  bore  witness  among  blazing 
fagots  to  the  truth  of  the  reformed  religion  by  displaying  the 
highest  qualities  that  give  dignity  to  human  nature.  Rogers 
and  Hooper,  the  first  martyrs  of  Protestant  England,  were 
Puritans.  And  it  was  observed  that  Puritans  never  sought 
by  concessions  to  escape  the  flames.  For  them,  compromise 
was  itself  apostasy.  The  offer  of  pardon  could  not  induce 
Hooper  to  waver,  nor  the  pains  of  a  lingering  death  impair 
his  fortitude.  He  suffered  by  a  very  slow  fire,  and  died  as 
quietly  as  a  child  in  his  bed. 


184  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  xi. 

A  large  part  of  tlie  English  clergy  went  back  to  their  sub- 
mission to  the  see  of  Rome,  while  others  adhered  to  the  ref- 
ormation from  conviction,  many  of  whom  had,  in  their  wives 
and  children,  given  hostages  for  fidelity.  Among  the  multi- 
tudes who  hurried  into  foreign  lands,  one  party  aimed  at  re- 
newing abroad  the  forms  of  discipline  which  had  been  sanc- 
tioned in  the  reign  of  Edward ;  the  Puritans  endeavored  to 
sweeten  their  exile  by  completely  emancipating  themselves 
from  all  offensive  ceremonies.  The  sojourning  in  Frankfort 
was  at  first  imbittered  by  angry  divisions ;  but  time  softened 
the  asperities  of  controversy,  and  a  reconciliation  was  pre- 
pared by  concessions  to  the  stricter  sect,  of  which  the  abode 
on  the  continent  was  well  adapted  to  strengthen  the  influence. 
"While  the  Puritans  who  fled  to  Denmark  and  Northern  Ger- 
many were  rejected  with  the  most  bitter  intolerance,  those  of 
them  who  repaired  to  Switzerland  received  the  kindest  wel- 
come ;  their  love  for  the  rigorous  austerity  of  a  spiritual  wor- 
ship was  confirmed ;  and  some  of  them  enjoyed  the  instruc- 
tions and  the  friendship  of  Calvin.  Alike  at  Frankfort  and 
Geneva,  they  gave  each  other  pledges  to  promote  further  re- 
forms. 

On  the  death  of  Mary,  after  a  reign  of  hardly  five  and  a 
half  years,  the  Puritan  exiles  returned  to  England  with  still 
stronger  antipathies  to  the  forms  of  worship  and  the  vestures, 
which  had  been  disused  in  the  churches  of  Switzerland,  and 
which  they  now  repelled  as  associated  with  the  cruelties  of 
Poman  intolerance  at  home.  But  the  controversy  was  modi- 
fied by  the  personal  character  of  the  English  sovereign. 

The  younger  daughter  of  Henry  YIII.  had  at  her  father's 
court,  until  her  fourteenth  year,  conformed  like  him  to  the 
rites  of  the  Roman  church.  Less  than  twelve  years  had  passed 
since  his  death.  For  two  or  three  of  those  years  she  had 
made  use  of  Cranmer's  first  Book  of  Common  Prayer ;  but 
hardly  knew  the  second,  which  was  introduced  only  a  few 
weeks  before  her  brother's  death.  No  one  ever  ascribed  to 
her  any  inward  experience  of  the  influences  of  religion.  Dur- 
ing the  reign  of  her  sister  Mary,  she  had  conformed  to  the 
Catholic  church  without  a  scruple.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  restored  to  freedom  by  accession  to  the  throne,  her  first 


1558-1571.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  185 

words  were  that  she  would  "  do  as  her  father  did  ; "  and,  like 
her  father,  she  never  called  herself  a  Protestant,  bat  a  Catholic 
except  in  subordination  to  the  pope.  She  respected  the  sym- 
bols of  the  "  Catholic  faith,"  and  loved  magnificence  in  wor- 
ship. She  publicly  thanked  one  of  her  chaplains,  who  had 
asserted  the  real  presence.  She  vehemently  desired  to  retain 
in  her  private  chapel  images,  the  crucifix,  and  tapers ;  she  was 
inclined  to  offer  prayers  to  the  Virgin ;  she  favored  the  invo- 
cation of  saints.  She  so  far  required  the  ceKbacy  of  the 
clergy  that,  during  her  reign,  their  marriages  took  place  only 
by  connivance.  Neither  the  influence  of  early  education  nor 
the  love  of  authority  would  permit  Elizabeth  to  imitate  the 
reformed  churches  of  the  continent,  which  had  risen  in  defi- 
ance of  all  ordinary  powers  of  the  world,  and  which  could 
justify  their  existence  only  by  a  strong  claim  to  natural  lib- 
erty. 

On  this  young  woman,  in  November,  1558,  devolved  the 
choice  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  seemed,  for  the 
two  or  three  millions  who  then  formed  the  people  of  Eng- 
land ;  but,  in  truth,  for  very  many  in  countries  collectively 
more  than  twice  as  large  as  all  Europe.  Her  choice  was  for 
the  first  service-book  of  her  brother ;  yielding  to  the  immense 
weight  of  a  Puritan  opposition,  which  was  as  yet  unbalanced 
by  an,  episcopal  section  in  the  church,  she  consented  to  that 
of  155S ;  but  the  prayer  against  the  tyranny  of  the  bishop  of 
Rome  was  left  out,  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  was  re- 
stored, the  minister  was  sometimes  denominated  the  priest, 
the  table  was  sometimes  called  the  altar,  and  the  rubric,  which 
scouted  the  belief  in  the  objective  real  presence  of  Christ  in 
the  eucharist  as  gross  idolatry,  was  discarded.  She  long  de- 
sired to  establish  the  national  religion  midway  between  sec- 
tarian licentiousness  and  Koman  supremacy;  and,  after  her 
policy  in  religion  was  once  declared,  the  pride  of  authority 
would  brook  no  opposition. 

When  rigorous  orders  for  enforcing  conformity  were  first 
issued,  the  Puritans  were  rather  excited  to  defiance  than  intimi- 
dated. Of  the  London  ministers,  about  thirty  refused  sub- 
scription, and  men  began  to  speak  openly  of  a  secession  !from 
the  church ;  "  not  for  hatred  to  the  estates  of  the  church  of 

VOL.  I.— 14 


186  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.;  oh.  xl 

England,  but  for  love  to  a  better."  In  1567,  a  separate  con- 
gregation was  formed ;  immediately  the  government  was 
alarmed,  and  the  leading  men  of  the  congregation  and  several 
women  were  sent  to  Bridewell  for  a  year. 

While  the  personal  influence  of  the  queen  crushed  every 
movement  of  the  house  of  commons  toward  satisfying  the 
scruples  of  the  Puritans  by  reforms  in  the  service-book,  it 
chanced  otherwise  with  her  aversion  to  the  abstract  articles  of 
religion.  In  January,  1563,  the  convocation  of  the  Anglican 
clergy,  in  whom  the  spirit  of  the  reformation  then  prevailed, 
having  compressed  the  forty-two  articles  of  Cranmer  and  Ed- 
ward YI.  into  thirty-eight,  adopted  and  subscribed  them  ;  and, 
except  for  the  opposition  of  the  queen  and  her  council,  they 
would  have  been  confirmed  by  parliament.  When,  four  years 
later,  a  Puritan  house  of  commons  voted  to  impose  them  on 
the  clergy,  Elizabeth,  at  the  instance  of  the  English  Catholics, 
and  after  a  long  consultation  with  the  ambassador  of  Spain, 
used  her  influence  to  suppress  a  debate  on  the  bill  in  the  house 
of  lords.  But,  in  1571,  the  year  after  there  had  been  nailed  to 
the  door  of  the  bishop  of  London  the  bull  in  which  the  pope, 
Pius  Y.,  denied  her  right  to  the  English  throne  and  excommu- 
nicated every  English  Catholic  who  should  remain  loyal  to  her, 
at  a  time  when  she  was  in  danger  of  being  put  out  of  the  way 
by  assassins,  though  she  still  quelled  every  movement  toward 
changes  in  the  liturgy,  she  dared  not  refuse  assent  to  an  act 
which  required  subscription  to  the  so-called  thirty-nine  arti- 
cles, as  an  indispensable  condition  for  the  tenure  of  a  benefice 
in  the  church  of  England.  From  that  time  forward,  while 
conformity  to  the  common  prayer  was  alone  required  of  the 
laity,  every  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England  wrote  him- 
self a  believer  "  that  justification  is  by  faith,  that  holy  scrip- 
ture containeth  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  and  that  tran- 
substantiation  is  repugnant  to  the  plain  words  of  scripture, 
overthroweth  the  nature  of  a  sacrament,  and  hath  given  occa- ; 
sion  to  many  superstitions."  "  By  the  adoption  of  the  thirty- 
nine  articles,"  say  English  Catholics,  "  the  seal  was  set  to  the 
reformation  in  England ;  a  new  church  was  built  on  the  ruins 
of  the  old." 

Within  the  church  of  England  an  irreconcilable  division 


1671-1582.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  187 

was  developed.  The  power  of  the  bishop,  wliich  was  for 
some  years  looked  upon  as  only  administrative,  began  to  be 
considered  as  intermediary;  and  the  attempt  w^as  made  to 
reconcile  the  regenerating  power  of  an  ordained  prelacy  to 
faith  in  the  direct  dealing  of  God  with  each  individual  soul. 
The  one  party  claimed  for  the  bishops  an  unbroken  sacred 
succession  from  apostolic  times ;  the  other  sought  a  perfect 
unity  with  the  reformers  of  the  continent.  Both  parties 
avoided  separation  or  schism  ;  both  strove  for  mastery  in  the 
church  of  the  whole  nation ;  and  each  of  the  two,  fast  an- 
chored within  that  church,  engaged  in  a  contest  for  the  exclu- 
sive direction  of  the  public  worship. 

But,  besides  these  parties  contending  for  lordship  over  the 
religion  of  the  whole  land,  there  rose  up  a  class  of  Inde- , 
pendents,  who  desired  liberty  to  separate  from  the  church  of 
England,  and  institute  social  worship  according  to  their  own 
consciences,  and  employ  each  individual  mind  in  discovering 
"  truth  in  the  wo^-d  of  God."  The  reformation  had  begun 
in  England  •with  the  monarch,  had  extended  among  the  nobil- 
ity, had  been  developed  under  the  guidance  of  a  hierarchy, 
and  had  but  slowly  penetrated  the  masses.  The  party  of  the 
independents  was  plebeian  in  its  origin,  and  carried  the  prin- 
ciple of  intellectual  enfranchisement  from  authority  into  the 
houses  of  the  common  people.  Its  adherents  were  "  neither 
gentry  nor  beggars."  They  desired  freedom  to  worship  God 
in  congregations  of  their  own. 

It  had  long  been  held  perilous  for  a  Christian  prince  to 
grant  a  liberty  that  one  of  his  subjects  should  use  a  religion 
against  the  conscience  of  the  prince  ;  and  Bacon  said  :  "  The 
permission  of  the  exercise  of  more  religions  than  one  is  a 
dangerous  indulgence."  It  was  determined  at  once  to  crush 
this  principle  of  voluntary  union  by  every  terror  o£  the  law. 
Among  the  clergymen  who  inclined  to  it  were  Copping, 
Thacker,  and  Robert  Browne.  By  Freke,  as  bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, the  two  former  were  cast  into  the  common  jail  of  Bury 
St.  Edmunds.  From  the  prison  of  Norwich,  Browne  was 
released,  through  the  influence  of  his  kinsman,  the  lord  trea- 
surer, Burleigh.  In  1582,  he  escaped  to  the  Netherlands,  gath- 
ered a  church  at  Middleburg  from  among  English  exiles,  and 


188  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     pakt  i.;  oh.  is. 

printed  three  tracts  in  exposition  of  his  belief.  In  substance, 
his  writings  contain  two  seminal  ideas :  first,  if  the  prince,  or 
magistrate  under  the  prince,  do  refuse  or  defer  to  reform  the 
church,  the  people  may  without  their  consent  sever  them- 
selves from  the  national  church,  and  for  themselves  individu- 
allj  undertake  a  reformation  without  tarrying  for  any  ;  and, 
secondly,  a  church  may  be  gathered  by  a  number  of  believers 
coming  together  under  a  willing  covenant  made  among  them- 
selves without  civil  authority. 

Both  these  propositions  Luther  had  approved,  as  in  them- 
selves thoroughly  right ;  but  the  English  prelacy  pursued  them 
with  merciless  severity.  Copping  and  Thacker,  accused  of 
assisting  to  spread  the  book  of  Kobert  Browne,  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  secular  power,  and,  under  the  interpretation  of 
the  law  by  the  lord  chief  justice  of  England,  were  hanged 
for  the  felony  of  sedition.  Browne,  by  submitting  himself 
to  the  established  order  and  government  in  the  church,  ob- 
tained a  benefice,  which  he  enjoyed  till  he  .became  fourscore 
years  of  age.  The  principles,  of  which  the  adoption  had 
alone  given  him  distinction,  lay  deeply  rooted  in  the  religious 
thought  of  the  country,  and  did  not  suffer  from  his  apostasy. 

From  this  time  there  was  a  division  among  the  Puritans. 
The  very  great  majority  of  them  continued  their  connection 
with  the  national  church,  which  they  hoped  one  day  to  model 
according  to  their  own  convictions ;  the  minority,  separating 
from  it,  looked  for  the  life  of  religion  in  the  liberty  of  the 
conscience  of  the  individual. 

The  party  of  the  outright  separatists  having  been  pursued 
till  they  seemed  to  be  wholly  rooted  out,  the  queen  pressed 
on  to  the  graver  conflict  with  the  Puritan  churchmen.  "  In 
truth,  Elizabeth  and  James  were  personally  the  great  support 
of  the  high  church  interest ;  it  had  few  real  friends  among 
her  counsellors."  In  vain  did  the  best  statesmen  favor  mod- 
eration :  the  queen  was  impatient  of  nonconformity,  as  the 
nursery  of  disobedience  and  rebellion.  At  a  time  when  the 
readiest  mode  of  reaching  the  minds  of  the  common  people 
was  through  the  pulpit,  and  when  the  preachers  would  often 
speak  with  homely  energy  on  all  the  events  of  the  day,  the 
claim  of  the  Puritans  to  the  "  liberty  of  prophesying  "  was 


1582-1584.  PRELATES  AND   PURITANS.  189 

similar  to  the  modem  demand  of  the  liberty  of  the  press ;  and 
threatened  not  only  to  disturb  the  uniformity  of  the  national 
worship  but  to  impair  the  royal  authority. 

The  learned  Grindal,  who  during  the  reign  of  Mary  lived 
in  exile,  and,  after  her  death,  hesitated  about  accepting  a 
mitre  from  dislike  to  what  he  regarded  as  the  mummery  of 
consecration,  early  in  15Y6  was  advanced  to  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury. At  the  head  of  the  English  clergy,  he  gave  an 
example  of  reluctance  to  prosecute.  But  he,  whom  Bacon 
calls  "  one  of  the  greatest  and  rarest  prelates  of  his  time," 
brought  down  upon  himself  the  petulance  of  Elizabeth  by 
his  refusal  to  suppress  the  liberty  of  prophesying,  was  sus- 
pended, and,  when  blind  and  broken-hearted,  was  ordered  to 
resign.  IN'othing  but  his  death,  in  1583,  saved  him  from  being 
superseded  by  Whitgift. 

The  accession  of  Whitgift,  on  the  twenty-third  of  Septem- 
ber, 1583,  marks  the  epoch  of  extreme  and  consistent  rigor  in 
the  public  councils;  for  the  new  archbishop  was  sincerely 
attached  to  the  English  church,  and,  from  a  regard  to  religion, 
enforced  the  conformity  which  the  queen  desired  as  the  sup- 
port of  her  power.  He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  and  wished 
to  govern  the  clergy  of  the  realm  as  he  would  rule  the  mem- 
bers of  a  college.  Subscriptions  were  required  to  points 
which  before  had  been  eluded ;  the  kingdom  rung  with  com- 
plaints for  deprivation  ;  the  most  learned  and  diligent  of  the 
ministry  were  driven  from  their  places ;  and  those  who  were 
introduced  to  read  the  liturgy  were  so  ignorant  that  few  of 
them  could  preach.  Did  men  listen  to  their  deprived  pastors 
in  the  recesses  of  forests  or  in  tabernacles,  the  offence,  if  dis- 
covered, was  visited  by  fines  and  imprisonment. 

The  first  statute  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  enacting  her  suprem- 
acy, gave  her  authority  to  erect  a  commission  for  causes  eccle- 
siastical. On.  the  first  of  July,  1584,  a  new  form  was  given 
to  this  court.  Forty-four  commissioners,  twelve  of  whom 
were  bishops,  had  i^oving  powers,  as  arbitrary  as  those  of  the 
Spanish  inquisitors,  to  search  after  heretical  opinions,  seditious 
books,  absences  from  the  established  divine  worship,  errors, 
heresies,  and  schisms.  The  primary  model  of  the  court  was 
the  inquisition  itself,  its  English  germ  a  commission  granted 


190  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     paet  i.;  oh.  xl 

by  Marj  to  certain  bishops  and  others  to  inquire  after  all 
heresies.  All  suspected  persons  might  be  called  before  them  ; 
and  men  were  obliged  to  answer,  on  oath,  every  question 
proposed,  either  against  others  or  against  themselves.  In 
vain  did  the  sufferers  murmur ;  in  vain  did  parliament  disap- 
prove the  commission,  which  was  alike  illegal  and  arbitrary ; 
in  vain  did  Burleigh  remonstrate  against  a  system  so  intoler- 
ant that  "  the  inquisitors  of  Spain  used  not  so  many  questions 
to  trap  their  preys."  The  archbishop  would  have  deemed 
forbearance  a  weakness ;  and  the  queen  was  ready  to  inter- 
pret any  freedom  in  religion  as  the  treasonable  denial  of 
her  supremacy  or  the  felony  of  sedition. 

The  institution  of  this  ecclesiastical  court  stands  out  in 
high  relief  as  one  of  the  great  crimes  against  civilization,  and 
admits  of  no  extenuation  or  apology  except  by  recrimination. 
It  has  its  like  in  the  bull  of  Leo  X.  against  Luther ;  in  the 
advice  of  Calvin  to  the  English  reformers ;  in  the  blind  zeal 
of  the  Puritans  of  that  day,  who,  like  Cartwright,  taught  that 
"heretykes  oughte  to  be  put  to  deathe  nowe,  that  uppon 
repentance  ther  oughte  not  to  followe  any  pardon  of  deathe, 
that  the  magistrates  which  punish  murther  and  are  lose  in 
punishing  the  breaches  of  the  first  table,  begynne  at  the 
wronge  end;"  and,  finally,  in  the  act  of  the  Presbyterian 
Long  Parliament  imposing  capital  punishment  upon  various 
reHgious  opinions.  Luther  alone  has  the  glory  of  "  forbid- 
ding to  fight  for  the  gospel  with  violence  and  death." 

The  party  thus  persecuted  were  the  most  efficient  oppo- 
nents of  popery.  "  The  Puritans,"  said  Burleigh,  "  are  over- 
squeamish  and  nice,  yet  their  careful  catechising  and  diligent 
preaching  lessen  and  diminish  the  papistical  numbers."  But 
for  the  Puritans,  the  old  religion  would  have  retained  the 
affections  of  the  multitude.  If  Elizabeth  reformed  the  court, 
the  ministers,  whom  she  persecuted,  reformed  the  commons. 
In  Scotland,  where  they  prevailed,  they,  by  their  system  of 
schools,  lifted  the  nation  far  above  any  other  in  Europe, 
excepting,  perhaps,  some  cantons  of  Switzerland.  That  the 
English  people  became  Protestant  is  due  to  the  Puritans. 
How,  then,  could  the  party  be  subdued  ?  The  spirit  of  these 
brave  and   conscientious   men  could  not   be   broken.      The 


1584-1593.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  191 

queen  gave  her  orders  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  "  that 
no  man  should  be  suffered  to  decline,  either  on  the  left  or  on 
the  right  hand,  from  the  drawn  line  limited  by  authority,  and 
by  her  laws  and  injunctions."  The  vehemence  of  persecu- 
tion, which  comprehended  one  third  of  all  the  ecclesiastics 
of  England,  roused  the  sufferers  to  struggle  fiercely  for  self- 
protecting  and  avenging  power  in  the  state,  and,  through  the 
state,  in  the  national  church. 

Meantime,  the  party  of  the  Independents,  or  Brownists  as 
they  were  scornfully  called,  shading  into  that  of  the  Puritans, 
were  pursued  into  their  hiding-places  with  relentless  fury. 
Yet,  in  all  their  sorrows,  they  manifested  the  sincerest  love 
for  their  native  country,  and  their  religious  ze^l  made  them 
devoted  to  the  queen,  whom  Rome  and  the  Spaniards  had 
forced,  against  her  will,  to  become  the  leading  prince  of  the 
Protestant  world. 

In  November,  1592,  "  this  humble  petition  of  her  high- 
ness's  faithful  subjects,  falsely  called  Brownists,"  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  privy  council :  "  Whereas,  we,  her  majesty's 
natural-born  subjects,  true  and  loyal,  now  lying,  many  of  us, 
in  other  countries,  as  men  exiled  her  highness's  dominions ; 
and  the  rest,  which  remain  within  her  grace's  land,  greatly 
distressed  through  imprisonment  and  other  great  troubles, 
sustained  only  for  some  niatters  of  conscience,  in  which  our 
most  lamentable  estate  we  cannot  in  that  measure  perform 
the  duty  of  subjects  as  we  desire ;  and,  also,  whereas  means 
is  now  offered  for  our  being  in  a  foreign  and  far  country 
which  lieth  to  the  west  from  hence,  in  the  province  of  Can- 
ada, where  by  the  providence  of  the  Almighty,  and  her  maj- 
esty's most  gracious  favor,  we  may  not  only  worship  God  as 
we  are  in  conscience  persuaded  by  his  word,  but  also  do  unto 
her  majesty  and  our  country  great  good  service,  and  in  time 
also  greatly  annoy  that  bloody  and  persecuting  Spaniard  about 
the  bay  of  Mexico — our  most  humble  suit  is  that  it  may  please 
your  honors  to  be  a  means  unto  her  excellent  majesty,  that 
with  her  most  gracious  favor  and  protection  we  may  peace- 
ably depart  thither,  and  there  remaining  to  be  accounted  her 
majesty's  faithful  and  loving  subjects,  to  whom  we  owe  all 
duty  and  obedience  in  the  Lord,  promising  hereby  and  taking 


192  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,    part  :. ;  oh.  xi. 

God  to  record,  who  searcheth  the  hearts  of  all  people,  that, 
wheresoever  we  become,  we  will,  bj  the  grace  of  God,  live 
and  die  faithful  to  her  highness  and  this  land  of  our  nativity." 

The  prayer  was  unheeded.  'No  one  at  court  in  that  day 
would  suffer  Independents  to  live  in  peace  in  England  or 
plant  a  colony.  "  As  for  those  which  we  call  Brownists," 
wrote  Bacon,  in  1592,  "  being,  when  they  were  at  the  most, 
a  very  small  number  of  very"  silly  and  base  people,  here  and 
there  in  corners  dispersed,  they  are  now,  thanks  to  God,  by 
the  good  remedies  that  have  been  used,  suppressed  and  worn 
out ;  so  that  there  is  scarce  any  news  of  them."  Yet,  in  the 
next  year,  it  was  said  by  Raleigh,  in  parliament,  that  there 
were  in  England  twenty  thousand  of  those  who  frequented 
conventicles.  It  was  proposed  to  banish  them,  as  the  Moors 
had  been  banished  from  Spain.  To  root  out  the  sect  which 
was  become  the  depository  of  the  principles  of  reform,  an 
act  of  parliament  of  1593  ordered  those  who  for  a  month 
should  be  absent  from  the  English  service  to  be  interrogated 
as  to  their  belief,  and  menaced  obstinate  non-conformists  with 
exile  or  with  death.  For  the  moment,  under  the  ruthless  pol- 
icy of  Whitgift  and  the  queen,  John  Greenwood  and  Heury 
Barrow,  both  educated  in  the  university  at  Cambridge,  the 
former  a  regularly  ordained  minister,  the  latter  for  some  years 
a  member  of  Gray's  Inn,  London,  after  an  imprisonment  of 
about  seven  years,  were  selected  by  Whitgift  for  execution, 
Burleigh  interposed  and  "gave  the  archbishop  sound  taxing 
words,  and  he  used  some  speech  with  the  queen,  but  was  not 
seconded  by  any."  Under  the .  gallows  at  Tyburn,  with  the 
ropes  about  their  necks,  they  prayed  for  England  and  Eng- 
land's queen ;  and  so,  on  an  April,  morning,  were  hanged  for 
dissent. 

John  Penry,  a  Welshman,  who  had  taken  his  first  degree 
at  Cambridge,  and  had  become  master  of  arts  at  Oxford,  a 
man  of  faultless  life,  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  to  the  Welsh, 
was  convicted  at  Westminster  Hall  of  the  same  seditiousness. 
"  In  the  earnest  desire  I  had  to  see  the  gospel  in  my  native 
country,"  so  he  wrote  to  Lord  Burleigh,  "  I  might  well,  as  I 
confess  in  my  published  writings,  forget  my  own  danger; 
but  my  loyalty  to  my  prince  did  I  never  forget.     And,  being 


1593.  PRELATES  AND  PURITANS.  193 

now  to  end  my  days  before  I  am  come  to  the  one  half  of  my 
years  in  the  likely  course  of  nature,  I  leave  unto  such  of  my 
countrymen  as  the  Lord  is  to  raise  after  me  the  accomplishing 
of  that  work  which,  in  the  calling  of  my  country  unto  the 
knowledge  of  Christ's  blessed  gospel,  I  began."  His  protes- 
tation after  sentence  was  referred  to  the  judges,  who  reported 
him  guilty  of  separation  from  the  church  of  England,  and  of 
"  the  justification  of  Barrow  and  Greenwood  as  holy  martyrs." 
Archbishop  Whitgift  was  the  first  to  afiix  his  name  to  the 
death  warrant ;  and,  on  the  seventh  of  June,  1593,  just  as  the 
sun  was  going  down  toward  the  west,  one  of  the  purest  men 
of  England,  exemplarily  faithful  to  his  country  and  to  its 
prince,  suffered  martyrdom  on  the  gallows. 

"  Take  my  poor  desolate  widow  and  my  mess  of  fatherless 
and  friendless  orphans  with  you  into  exile ;  you  shall  yet  find 
days  of  peace  and  rest,  if  you  continue  faithful,"  was  one  of  the 
last  messages  of  Penry  to  a  company  of  believers  in  London 
whom  banishment,  with  the  loss  of  goods,  was  likely  to  betide. 
Francis  Johnson,  being  arraigned,  pleaded  that  "the  great 
charter  of  England  granteth  that  the  church  of  Christ  shall 
be  free,  and  have  all  her  liberties  inviolable ; "  but,  after  a 
close  imprisonment  in  jail  for  more  than  a  year,  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  abjure  the  realm.  He  it  was  who  gathered  the 
exiled  South wark  church  in  Amsterdam,  where  it  continued 
as  an  example  for  a  century. 


ojr  rm.it, 

■UNIVERSITY 


194  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMEEICA.    paet  i.;  ch.  xii. 


CHAPTEK  XII. 

THE   PILGRIMS. 

OuE  narrative  leads  us  to  the  manor-house  of  Scrooby,  in 
[N'ottingham shire,  where  William  Brewster,  who  had  been 
educated  at  Cambridge,  had  been  employed  in  public  affairs 
by  an  English  secretary  of  state,  and  had  taken  part  in  an  em- 
bassy to  the  I*^etherlands,  resided  as  successor  to  his  father  in 
a  small  office  under  the  queen.  He  furthered  religion  by  pro- 
curing good  preachers  to  all  places  thereabouts,  charging  him- 
self most  commonly  deepest,  and  sometimes  above  his  means. 
The  tyranny  of  the  bishops  against  godly  preachers  and  people, 
in  silencing  the  one  and  persecuting  the  other,  led  him  and 
many  more  of  those  times  to  look  further  into  particulars,  and 
to  see  the  burden  of  many  anti-Christian  corruptions  which 
both  he  and  they  endeavored  to  cast  off. 

The  age  of  the  queen  and  the  chajice  of  favor  to  Puritans 
from  her  successor  conspired  to  check  persecution.  The  In- 
dependents had,  it  is  true,  been  nearly  exterminated ;  but  the 
non-conforming  clergy,  after  forty  years  of  molestation,  had 
increased,  and  taken  deeper  root  in  the  nation.  Their  follow- 
ers constituted  a  powerful  political  party,  inquired  into  the 
nature  of  government,  in  parliament  opposed  monopolies,  re- 
strained the  royal  prerogative,  and  demanded  a  reform  of 
ecclesiastical  abuses.  Popular  liberty,  which  used  to  animate 
its  friends  by  appeals  to  the  examples  of  ancient  republics, 
now  listened  to  a  voice  from  the  grave  of  Wy cliff e,  from  the 
vigils  of  Calvin.  Victorious  over  her  foreign  enemies,  Eliza- 
beth never  could  crush  the  religious  party  of  which  she  held 
the  increase  dangerous  to  the  state.  In  the  latter  years  of  her 
reign  her  popularity  declined,  and  after  her  death  "  in  four 


1603-1604.  THE   PILGRIMS.  I95 

days  she  was  forgotten."  The  accession  of  King  James,  on 
the  third  day  of  April,  1603,  would,  it  was  hoped,  introduce 
a  milder  system;  for  he  had  called  the  church  of  Scotland 
"  the  sincerest  kirk  of  the  world ; "  and  had  censured  the  ser- 
vice of  England  as  "  an  evil  said  mass." 

The  pupil  of  Buchanan  was  not  destitute  of  shrewdness 
nor  unskilled  in  rhetoric.  He  aimed  at  the  reputation  of 
a  "most  learned  clerk,"  and  so  successfully  that  Bacon  pro- 
nounced him  incomparable  for  learning  among  kings;  and 
Sully,  who  knew  him  well,  esteemed  him  the  wisest  fool  in 
Europe.  At  the  mature  age  of  thirty-six,  the  imbecile  man, 
afflicted  with  an  ungainly  frame  and  a  timorous  nature, 
escaped  from  austere  supervision  in  Scotland  to  freedom  of 
self-indulgence  in  the  English  court.  His  will,  like  his  pas- 
sions, was  feeble,  so  that  he  could  never  carry  out  a  wise  reso- 
lution ;  and,  in  his  love  of  ease,  he  had  no  fixed  principles  of 
conduct  or  belief.  Moreover,  cowardice,  which  was  the  core 
of  his  character,  led  him  to  be  false ;  and  he  could  vindicate 
deception  and  cunning  as  worthy  of  a  king ;  but  he  was  an 
awkward  liar  rather  than  a  crafty  dissembler.  On  his  way  to 
a  country  where  the  institution  of  a  parliament  existed,  he 
desired  "  to  get  rid  of  it,"  being  persuaded  that  its  privileges 
were  not  an  ancient,  undoubted  right  and  inheritance,  but 
were  derived  solely  from  grace  and  favor.  His  experience  in 
Scotland  had  persuaded  him  that  Presbyterian  government 
in  the  church  would,  in  a  monarchy,  bring  forth  perpetual 
rebellions ;  and  while  he  denied  the  divine  institution  of  bish- 
ops, and  cared  not' for  the  profits  the  church  might  reap  frona 
them,  he  believed  they  would  prove  useful  instruments  to 
turn  a  monarchy  with  a  parliament  into  absolute  dominion. 

The  English  hierarchy  had  feared  in  their  new  sovereign 
the  approach  of  a  "  Scottish  mist ; "  but  the  borders  of  Scot- 
land were  hardly  passed  before  James  began  to  identify  the 
interests  of  the  English  church  with  those  of  his  preroga- 
tive. "  No  bishop,  no  king."  was  a  maxim  often  in  his  mouth, 
at  the  moment  when  Archbishop  Whitgift  could  not  conceal 
his  disappointment  and  disquiet  of  mind,  that  the  Puritans 
were  too  numerous  to  be  borne  down.  While  James  was  in 
his  progress  to  London,  more  than  seven  hundred  of  them 


196  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     paet  i.;  ch.  xit. 

presented  a  petition  for  a  redress  of  ecclesiastical  grievances ; 
and  a  decent  respect  for  the  party  in  which  he  had  been 
bred,  joined  to  a  desire  of  displaying  his  talents  for  theologi- 
cal debate,  induced  him  to  appoint  a  conference  at  Hampton 
court. 

The  conference,  held  in  January,  1604,  was  distinguished 
on  the  part  of  the  king  by  a  strenuous  vindication  of  the 
church  of  England.  Kefusing  to  discuss  the  question  of  its 
power  in  things  indifferent,  he  substituted  authority  for  argu- 
ment, and,  where  he  could  not  produce  conviction,  demanded 
obedience  :  "  I  will  have  none  of  that  liberty  as  to  ceremonies ; 
I  will  have  one  doctrine,  one  discipline,  one  religion  in  sub- 
stance and  in  ceremony.  IS^ever  speak  more  to  that  point, 
how  far  you  are  bound  to  obey." 

The  Puritans  desired  permission  occasionally  to  assemble, 
and  at  their  meetings  to  have  the  liberty  of  free  discussions ; 
but  the  king  interrupted  their  petition  :  "  You  are  aiming  at  a 
Scot's  presbytery,  which  agrees  with  monarchy  as  well  as  Grod 
and  the  devil.  Then  Jack  and  Tom  and  Will  and  Dick  shall 
meet,  and  at  their  pleasure  censure  me  and  my  council,  and  all 
our  proceedings.  Then  Will  shall  stand  up  and  say,  It  must 
be  thus ;  then  Dick  shall  reply  and  say,  Nay,  marry,  but  we 
will  have  it  thus  ;  and,  therefore,  here  I  must  once  more 
reiterate  my  former  speech,  and  say.  The  king  forbids." 
Turning  to  the  bishops,  he  avowed  his  belief  that  the  hier- 
archy was  the  firmest  supporter  of  the  throne.  Of  the  Puri- 
tans, he  added :  "  I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry 
them  out  of  the  land,  or  else  worse,"  "  only  hang  them ;  that's 
all." 

On  the  last  day  of  the  conference,  the  king  defended  the 
necessity  of  subscription,  concluding  that,  "  if  any  would  not 
be  quiet  and  show  their  obedience,  they  were  worthy  to  be 
hanged."  He  approved  the  high  commission  and  inquisitorial 
oaths,  despotic  authority  and  its  instruments.  A  few  altera- 
tions in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  were  the  only  reforms 
which  the  conference  effected.  It  was  determined  that  a  time 
should  be  set,  within  which  all  should  conform,  or  be  removed. 
He  had  insulted  the  Puritans  with  vulgar  rudeness  and  in- 
decorous jests,  and  had  talked  much  Latin;  a  part  of  the 


1604-1606.  THE  PILGRIMS.  197 

time  in  the  presence  of  the  nobility  of  Scotland  and  England. 
"Your  majesty  speaks  by  the  special  assistance  of  God's 
spirit,"  said  the  aged  Whitgift,  just  six  weeks  before  his 
death.  Bishop  Bancroft,  on  his  knees,  exclaimed  that  his 
heart  melted  for  joy,  "  because  God  had  given  England  such 
a  king  as,  since  Christ's  time,  has  not  been ; "  and,  in  a  foolish 
letter,  James  boasted  that  "  he  had  soundly  peppered  off  the 
Puritans." 

In  the  parliament  which  assembled  in  1604,  the  party  for 
the  reform  of  the  church  asserted  their  liberties  with  such 
tenacity  and  vigor  that  King  James  began  to  hate  them  as 
embittering  royalty  itself.  "  I  had  rather  live  like  a  hermit 
in  the  forest,"  he  writes,  "  than  be  a  king  over  such  a  people 
as  the  pack  of  Puritans  are  that  overrule  the  lower  house." 
"  The  will  of  man  or  angel  cannot  devise  a  pleasing  answer  to 
their  propositions,  except  I  should  pull  the  crown  not  only 
from  my  own  head,  but  also  from  the  head  of  all  those  that 
shall  succeed  unto  me,  and  lay  it  down  at  their  feet."  At  the 
opening  of  the  session,  he  had  offered  '^  to  meet  the  Catholics 
in  the  midway ; "  while  he  added  that  "  the  sect  of  Puritans  is 
insufferable  in  any  well-governed  commonwealth."  At  the 
next  session  of  parliament  he  declared  the  Roman  Catholics  to 
be  faithful  subjects,  but  the  Puritans  worthy  of  fire  for  their 
opinions.  Against  the  latter  he  inveighed  bitterly  in  council, 
saying  "  that  the  revolt  in  the  Low  Countries  began  for  mat- 
ters of  religion,  and  so  did  all  the  troubles  in  Scotland ;  that 
his  mother  and  he,  from  their  cradles,  had  been  haunted  with 
a  Puritan  devil,  which  he  feared  would  not  leave  him  to  his 
grave  ;  and  that  he  would  hazard  his  crown  but  he  would  sup- 
press those  malicious  spirits." 

The  convocation  of  the  clergy  were  very  ready  to  decree 
against  obstinate  Puritans  excommunication  and  all  its  conse- 
quences. Bancroft,  the  successor  of  Whitgift,  required  con- 
formity with  unrelenting  rigor ;  King  James  issued  a  proc- 
lamation of  equal  severity ;  and  it  is  asserted,  perhaps  with 
exaggeration,  yet  by  those  who  had  opportunities  of  judging 
rightly,  that  in  the  year  1604  alone  three  hundred  Puritan 
ministers  were  silenced,  imprisoned,  or  exiled.  The  oppressed 
resisted  the  surplice,  not  as  a  mere  vestment,  but  as  the  sym- 


198  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.;  ch.  xii. 

bol  of  a  priest,  ordained  by  a  bishop,  imposed  upon  a  church, 
and  teaching  by  authority.  The  clergy  proceeded  with  a  con- 
sistent disregard  of  the  national  liberties.  The  importation 
of  foreign  books  was  impeded,  and  a  severe  censorship  of  the 
press  was  exercised  by  the  bishops.  The  convocation  of  1606, 
in  a  series  of  canons,  asserted  the  superiority  of  the  king  to 
the  parliament  and  the  laws,  and  admitted  no  exception  to 
the  duty  of  passive  obedience.  The  English  separatists  and 
non-conformists  became  the  sole  protectors  of  the  system  which 
gave  to  England  its  distinguishing  glory.  "The  stem  and 
exasperated  Puritans,"  writes  Hallam,  "  were  the  depositaries 
of  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty."  "  So  absolute  was  the  authority 
of  the  crown,"  said  Hume,  "  that  the  precious  spark  of  liberty 
had  been  kindled  and  was  preserved  by  the  Puritans  alone ; 
and  it  was  to  this  sect  that  the  English  owe  the  whole  freedom 
of  their  constitution."  The  lines  of  the  contending  parties 
were  sharply  drawn.  Immediate  success  was  obtained  by  the 
established  authority ;  but  the  contest  was  to  be  transmitted 
to  another  continent.  The  interests  of  human  freedom  were 
at  issue  on  the  contest. 

In  the  year  of  this  convocation,  "  a  poor  people "  in  the 
north  of  England,  in  towns  and  villages  of  ^Nottinghamshire, 
Lincolnshire,  and  the  borders  of  Yorkshire,  in  and  near  Scroo- 
by,  had  "  become  enlightened  by  the  word  of  God."  "  Pres- 
ently they  were  both  scoffed  and  scorned  by  the  profane  mul- 
titude ;  and  their  ministers,  urged  by  the  yoke  of  subscription," 
were,  by  the  increase  of  troubles,  led  "  to  see  further,"  that 
not  only  "  the  beggarly  ceremonies  were  monuments  of  idol- 
atry," but  "  that  the  lordly  power  of  the  prelates  ought  not 
to  be  submitted  to."  Many  of  them,  therefore,  "  w^hose  hearts 
the  Lord  had  touched  with  heavenly  zeal  for  his  truth,"  re- 
solved, "  whatever  it  might  cost  them,  to  shake  off  the  anti- 
Christian  bondage,  and,  as  the  Lord's  free  people,  to  join  them- 
selves by  a  covenant  into  a  church  estate  in  the  fellowship  of 
the  gospel." 

"  The  gospel  is  every  man's  right ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  en- 
dured that  any  one  should  be  kept  therefrom.  But  the  evan- 
gel is  an  open  doctrine ;  it  is  bound  to  no  place,  and  moves 
along  freely  under  heaven,  like  the  star,  which  ran  in  the  sky 


1606-1609.  THE   PILGRIMS.  199 

to  show  the  wizards  from  the  east  where  Christ  was  born.  Do 
not  dispute  with  the  prince  for  place.  Let  the  community 
choose  their  own  pastor,  and  support  him  out  of  their  own 
estates.  If  the  prince  will  not  suffer  it,  let  the  pastor  flee  into 
another  land,  and  let  those  go  with  him  who  will,  as  Christ 
teaches."  Such  was  the  counsel  of  Luther,  on  reading  "  the 
twelve  articles"  of  the  insurgent  peasants  of  Suabia.  What 
Luther  advised,  what  Calvin  planned,  was  earned  into  effect 
by  this  rural  community  of  Englishmen. 

The  reformed  church  chose  for  one  of  their  ministers  John 
Robinson,  "  a  man  not  easily  to  be  paralleled,"  "  of  a  most 
learned,  polished,  and  modest  spirit."  Their  ruling  elder  was 
William  Brewster,  who  "was  their  special  stay  and  help." 
They  were  beset  and  watched  night  and  day  by  the  agents  of 
prelacy.  For  about  a  year  they  kept  their  meetings  every  sab- 
bath in  one  place  or  another  ;  exercising  the  worship  of  God 
among  themselves,  notwithstanding  all  the  diligence  and  mal- 
ice of  their  adversaries,  till  the  peaceful  members  of  "  the  poor 
persecuted  flock  of  Christ,"  despairing  of  rest  in  England,  re- 
solved to  go  into  Holland,  "  where,  they  heard,  was  freedom 
of  religion  for  all  men." 

The  departure  from  England  was  effected  with  much  suf- 
fering and  hazard.  The  first  attempt,  in  1607,  was  prevented  ; 
feut  the  magistrates  cheeked  the  ferocity  of  the  subordinate 
officers ;  and,  after  a  month's  arrest  of  the  whole  company, 
seven  only  of  the  principal  men  were  detained  a  little  longer 
in  prison. 

The  next  spring  the  design  was  renewed.  An  unfrequent- 
ed heath  in  Lincolnshire,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Humber,  was 
the  place  of  secret  meeting.  Just  as  a  boat  was  bearing  a  part 
of  the  emigrants  to  their  ship,  a  company  of  horsemen  ap- 
peared in  pursuit,  and  seized  on  the  helpless  women  and  chil- 
dren who  had  not  yet  adventured  on  the  surf.  "  Pitiful  it  was 
to  see  the  heavy  case  of  these  poor  women  in  distress ;  what 
weeping  and  crying  on  every  side."  But,  when  they  were 
apprehended,  it  seemed  impossible  to  punish  and  imprison 
wives  and  children  for  no  other  crime  than  that  they  would 
not  part  from  their  husbands  and  fathers.  They  could  not  be 
sent  home,  for  "  they  had  no  homes  to  go  to ;  "  so  that,  at  last, 


200  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    pabt  i.  ;  ch.  xii. 

the  magistrates  were  "glad  to  be  rid  of  them, on  any  terms," 
"  though,  in  the  mean  time,  they,  poor  souls,  endured  misery 
enough."  Such  was  the  flight  of  Robinson  and  Brewster  and 
their  followers  from  the  land  of  their  fathers. 

Their  arrival  in  Amsterdam,  in  1608,  was  but  the  beginning 
of  their  wanderings.  "  They  knew  they  were  pilgkims,  and 
looked  not  much  on  those  things,  but  lifted  up  their  eyes  to 
Heaven,  their  dearest  country,  and  quieted  their  spirits."  In 
1609,  removing  to  Leyden,  "  they  saw  poverty  coming  on  them 
like  an  armed  man  ; "  but,  being  "  careful  to  keep  their  word, 
and  painful  and  diligent  in  their  callings,"  they  attained  "  a 
comfortable  condition,  grew  in  the  gifts  and  grace  of  the  spirit 
of  God,  and  lived  together  in  peace  and  love  and  holiness." 
"  Never,"  said  the  magistrates  of  the  city,  "  never  did  we  have 
any  suit  or  accusation  against  any  of  them ; "  and,  but  for  fear 
of  offence  to  King  James,  they  would  have  met  with  public 
favor.  "  Many  came  there  from  different  parts  of  England, 
so  as  they  grew  a  great  congregation."  "  Such  was  the  hum- 
ble zeal  and  fervent  love  of  this  people  toward  God  and  his 
ways,  and  their  single-heartedness  and  sincere  affection  one 
toward  another,"  that  they  seemed  to  come  surpassingly  near 
"  the  primitive  pattern  of  the  first  churches."  A  clear  and 
well- written  apology  of  their  discipline  was  published  by  Rob- 
inson, who,  in  the  controversy  on  free-will,  as  the  champion 
of  orthodoxy,  "  began  to  be  terrible  to  the  Arminians,"  and 
disputed  in  the  university  with  such  power  that,  as  his  friends 
assert,  "  the  truth  had  a  famous  victory." 

The  career  of  maritime  discovery  had,  meantime,  been 
pursued  with  intrepidity  and  rewarded  with  success.  The 
voyages  of  Gosnold,  Waymouth,  Smith,  and  Hudson;  the 
enterprise  of  Raleigh,  Delaware,  and  Gorges ;  the  compilations 
of  Eden,  Willes,  and  Hakluyt — had  filled  the  commercial  world 
with  wonder;  Calvinists  of  the  French  church  had  sought, 
though  vainly,  to  plant  themselves  in  Brazil,  in  Carolina,  and, 
with  De  Monts,  in  Acadia ;  while  weighty  reasons,  often  and 
seriously  discussed,  inclined  the  pilgrims  to  change  their  abode. 
They  had  been  bred  to  the  pursuits  of  husbandry,  and  in  Hol- 
land they  were  compelled  to  learn  mechanical  trades ;  Brew- 
ster became  a  teacher  of  English  and  a  printer ;  Bradford, 


l(509-16ir.  THE  PILGRIMS.  201 

who  had  been  educated  as  a  farmer,  learned  the  art  of  dyeing 
silk.  The  Dutch  language  never  became  pleasantly  familiar 
to  them,  and  the  Dutch  manners  still  less  so.  They  lived  but 
as  men  in  exile.  Many  of  their  English  friends  would  not  come 
to  them,  or  departed  from  them  weeping.  "  Their  continual 
labors,  with  other  crosses  and  sorrows,  left  them  in  danger  to 
scatter  or  sink."  "  Their  children,  sharing  their  parents'  bur- 
dens, bowed  under  the  weight,  and  were  becoming  decrepit  in 
early  youth."  Conscious  of  ability  to  act  a  higher  part  in  the 
great  drama  of  humanity,  they,  after  ten  years,  were  moved 
by  "  a  hope  and  inward  zeal  of  advancing  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  New  World ; 
yea,  though  they  should  be  but  as  stepping-stones  unto  others 
for  performing  so  great  a  work." 

"  Upon  their  talk  of  removing,  sundry  of  the  Dutch  would 
have  them  go  under  them,  and  made  them  large  offers ; "  but 
an  inborn  love  for  the  English  nation  and  for  their  mother 
tongue  led  them  to  the  generous  purpose  of  recovering  the 
protection  of  England  by  enlarging  her  dominions.  They 
were  "  restless "  with  the  desire  to  remove  to  "  the  most 
northern  parts  of  Yirginia,"  hoping,  under  the  general  gov- 
ernment of  that  province,  "  to  live  in  a  distinct  body  by 
themselves."  To  obtain  the  consent  of  the  London  company, 
John  Carver,  with  Robert  Cushman,  in  1617,  repaired  to 
England.  They  took  with  them  "  seven  articles,"  from  the 
members  of  the  church  at  Ley  den,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
council  in  England  for  Yirginia.  These  articles  discussed 
the  relations  which,  as  separatists  in  religion,  they  bore  to 
their  prince ;  and  they  adopted  the  theory  which  the  admo- 
nitions of  Luther  and  a  century  of  persecution  had  developed 
as  the  common  rule  of  plebeian  sectaries  on  the  continent  of 
Europe.  They  expressed  their  concurrence  in  the  creed  of  the 
Anglican  church,  and  a  desire  of  spiritual  communion  with  its 
members.  Toward  the  king  and  all  civil  authority  derived 
from  him,  including  the  civil  authority  of  bishops,  they  prom- 
ised, as  they  would  have  done  to  Nero  and  the  Roman  ponti- 
fex,  "  obedience  in  all  things,  active  if  the  thing  commanded 
be  not  against  God's  word,  or  passive  if  it  be."  They  denied 
all  power  to  ecclesiastical  bodies,  unless  it  were  given  by  the 

VOL.  I.— 15 


EITGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xn. 

temporal  magistrate.  They  pledged  themselves  to  honor  their 
superiors,  and  to  preserve  unity  of  spirit  in  peace  with  all 
men.  "  Divers  selecte  gentlemen  of  the  council  for  Virginia 
were  well  satisfied  with  their  statement,  and  resolved  to  set  for- 
ward their  desire."  The  London  company  listened  very  will- 
ingly to  their  proposal,  so  that  their  agents  "  found  God  going 
along  with  them ;  "  and,  through  the  influence  of  "  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  a  religious  gentleman  then  living,"  a  patent  might  at 
once  have  been  taken,  had  not  the  envoys  desired  first  to  con- ' 
suit  "  the  multitude  "  at  Leyden. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  December,  1617,  the  pilgrims  trans- 
mitted their  formal  request,  signed  by  the  hands  of  the  great- 
est part  of  the  congregation.  "  We  are  well  weaned,"  added 
Robinson  and  Brewster,  "  from  the  delicate  milk  of  our  mother 
country,  and  inured  to  the  difficulties  of  a  strange  land ;  the 
people  are  industrious  and  frugal.  We  are  knit  together  as  a 
body  in  a  most  sacred  covenant  of  the  Lord,  of  the  violation 
whereof  we  make  great  conscience,  and  by  virtue  whereof  we 
hold  ourselves  straitly  tied  to  all  care  of  each  other's  good,  and 
of  the  whole.  It  is  not  with  us  as  with  men  whom  small  things 
can  discourage." 

The  messengers  of  the  pilgrims,  satisfied  with  their  recep- 
tion by  the  Virginia  company,  petitioned  the  king  for  liberty 
of  religion,  to  be  confirmed  under  the  king's  broad  seal.  But 
here  they  encountered  insurmountable  difficulties.  Of  all  men 
in  the  government  of  that  day.  Lord  Bacon  had  given  the  most 
attention  to  colonial  enterprise.  The  settlements  of  the  Scotch 
in  Ireland  enjoyed  his  particular  favor.  To  him,  as  "  to  the 
encourager,  pattern,  and  perfecter  of  all  vertuous  endeavors," 
Strachey  at  this  time  dedicated  his  "Historic  of  Travaile 
into  Virginia "  ;  to  him  John  Smith,  in  his  "  povertie," 
turned  for  encouragement  in  colonizing  New  England,  as 
to  "  a  chief  patron  of  his  country  and  the  greatest  favorer  of 
all  good  designs."  To  him  Sir  George  Villiers,  the  favorite 
of  James,  addressed  himself  for  advice,  and  received  instruc- 
tions how  to  govern  himself  in  office. 

The  great  master  of  speculative  wisdom  knew  too  little  of 
religion  to  inculcate  freedom  of  conscience.  He  saw  that  the 
established  church,  which  he  cherished  as  the  eye  of  England, 


1617-1619.  THE  PILGRIMS.  203 

was  not  without  blemish;  that  the  wrongs  of  the  Puritans 
could  neither  be  dissembled  nor  excused ;  that  the  silencing 
of  ministers,  for  the  sake  of  enforcing  the  ceremonies,  was,  in 
the  scarcity  of  good  preachers,  a  punishment  that  lighted  on 
the  people ;  and  he  esteemed  controversy  "  the  wind  by  which 
truth  is  winnowed."  But  Bacon  was  formed  for  contempla- 
tive life,  not  for  action ;  his  will  was  feeble,  and  yet,  having 
an  incessant  yearning  for  vain  distinction  and  display,  he  be- 
came a  craven  courtier  and  an  intolerant  statesman.  "  Disci- 
pline by  bishops,"  said  he,  "  is  fittest  for  monarchy  of  all  others. 
The  tenets  of  separatists  and  sectaries  are  full  of  schism,  and 
inconsistent  with  monarchy.  The  king  will  beware  of  Ana- 
baptists, Brownists,  and  others  of  their  kinds ;  a  little  conniv- 
ency sets  them  on  fire.  For  the  discipline  of  the  church  in 
colonies,  it  will  be  necessary  that  it  agree  with  that  which  is 
settled  in  England,  else  it  will  make  a  schism  and  a  rent  in 
Christ's  coat,  which  must  be  seamless ;  and,  to  that  purpose, 
it  will  be  fit  that  by  the  king's  supreme  power  in  causes  eccle- 
siastical, within  all  his  dominions,  they  be  subordinate  under 
some  bishop  and  bishoprick  of  this  realm.  This  caution  is  to 
be  observed,  that  if  any  transplant  themselves  into  plantations 
abroad,  who  are  known  schismatics,  outlaws,  or  criminal  per- 
sons, they  be  sent  for  back  upon  the  first  notice." 

These  maxims  prevailed  at  the  council-board,  when  the 
envoys  from  the  independent  church  at  Leyden  preferred 
their  requests.  "  "Who  shall  make  your  ministers  ? "  it  was 
asked  of  them ;  and  the  avowal  of  their  principle,  that  ordi- 
nation requires  no  bishop,  threatened  to  spoil  all.  To  advance 
the  dominions  of  England,  King  James  esteemed  "  a  good  and 
honest  motion ;  and  fishing  was  an  honest  trade,  the  apostles' 
own  calling ; "  yet  he  referred  the  suit  to  the  prelates  of  Can- 
terbury and  London.  Even  while  the  negotiations  were  pend- 
ing, a  royal  declaration  constrained  the  Puritans  of  Lanca- 
shire to  conform  or  leave  the  kingdom ;  and  nothing  more 
could  be  obtained  for  the  wilds  of  America  than  an  informal 
promise  of  neglect.  On  this  the  community  relied,  being 
advised  not  to  entangle  themselves  with  the  bishops.  "If 
there  should  afterward  be  a  purpose  to  wrong  us,"  thus  they 
communed  with  themselves,  "  though  we  had  a  seal  as  broad  as 


204  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,  paet  i.  ;  oh.  xii. 

the  house-floor,  there  would  be  means  enough  found  to  recall 
or  reverse  it.     We  must  rest  herein  on  God's  providence." 

Better  hopes  seemed  to  dawn  when,  in  1619,  the  London 
company  for  Virginia  elected  for  their  treasurer  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  who  from  the  first  had  befriended  the  pilgrims. 
Under  his  presidency,  so  writes  one  of  their  number,  the 
members  of  the  company  in  their  open  court  "  demanded  our 
ends  of  going ;  which  being  related,  they  said  the  thing  was 
of  God,  and  granted  a  large  patent."  As  it  was  taken  in  the 
name  of  one  who  failed  to  accompany  the  expedition,  the 
patent  was  never  of  any  service.  And,  besides,  the  pilgrims, 
after  investing  all  their  own  means,  had  not  sufficient  capita? 
to  execute  their  schemes. 

In  this  extremity,  Robinson  looked  for  aid  to  the  Dutch. 
He  and  his  people  and  their  friends,  to  the  number  of  four 
hundred  families,  professed  themselves  well  inclined  to  emi- 
grate to  the  country  on  the  Hudson,  and  to  plant  there  a  new 
commonwealth  under  the  command  of  the  stadholder  and  the 
states  general.  The  West  India  company  was  willing  to  trans- 
port them  without  charge,  and  to  furnish  them  with  cattle ; 
but  when  its  directors  petitioned  the  states  general  to  promise 
protection  to  the  enterprise  against  all  violence  from  other 
potentates,  the  request  was  found  to  be  in  conflict  with  the 
policy  of  the  Dutch  republic,  and  was  refused. 

The  members  of  the  church  of  Leyden,  ceasing  "  to  med- 
dle with  the  Dutch,  or  to  depend  too  much  on  the  Vir- 
ginia company,"  now  trusted  to  their  own  resources  and  the 
aid  of  private  friends.  The  fisheries  had  commended  Ameri- 
can expeditions  to  English  merchants ;  and  the  agents  from 
Leyden  were  able  to  form  a  partnership  between  their  em- 
ployers and  men  of  business  in  London.  The  services  of 
each  emigrant  were  rated  as  a  capital  of  ten  pounds,  and 
belonged  to  the  company ;  all  profits  were  to  be  reserved  till 
the  end  of  seven  years,  when  the  whole  amount,  and  all  houses 
and  land,  gardens  and  fields,  were  to  be  divided  among  the 
share-holders  according  to  their  respective  interests.  The  Lon- 
don merchant,  who  riskied  one  hundred  pounds,  would  receive 
for  his  money  tenfold  as  much  as  the  penniless  laborer  for  his 
services.    This  arrangement  threatened  a  seven  years'  check  to 


1619-1620.  THE  PILGRIMS.  205 

the  pecuniary  prosperity  of  the  community ;  yet,  as  it  did  not 
interfere  with  civil  rights  or  religion,  it  was  accepted. 

And  now,  in  July,  1620,  the  English  at  Leyden,  trusting 
in  God  and  in  themselves,  made  ready  for  their  departure. 
The  ships  which  they  had  provided— the  Speedwell,  of  sixty 
tons,  the  Mayflower,  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons — could 
hold  but  a  minority  of  the  congregation  ;  and  Robinson  was 
therefore  detained  at  Leyden,  while  Brewster,  the  govern- 
ing elder,  who  was  an  able  teacher,  conducted  "  euch  of  the 
youngest  and  strongest  as  freely  offered  themselves."  A  sol- 
emn fast  was  held.  "  Let  us  seek  of  God,"  said  they,  "  a  right 
way  for  us,  and  for  our  little  ones,  and  for  all  our  substance." 
Anticipating  the  sublime  lessons  of  liberty  that  would  grow 
out  of  their  religious  tenets,  Robinson  gave  them  a  farewell, 
saying : 

"  I  charge  you,  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels,  that 
you  follow  me  no  farther  than  you  have  seen  me  follow  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Lord  has  more  truth  yet  to  break 
forth  out  of  his  holy  word.  I  cannot  sufficiently  bewail  the 
condition  of  the  reformed  churches,  who  are  come  to  a  period 
in  religion,  and  will  go  at  present  no  farther  than  the  instru-> 
ments  of  their  reformation.  Luther  and  Calvin  were  great 
and  shining  lights  in  their  times,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into 
the  whole  counsel  of  God.  I  beseech  you,  remember  it — 
'tis  an  article  of  your  church  covenant — that  you  be  ready  to 
receive  whatever  truth  shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  the 
written  word  of  God." 

"  When  the  ship  was  ready  to  carry  us  away,"  writes  Ed- 
ward Winslow,  "  the  brethren  that  stayed  at  Leyden,  having 
again  solemnly  sought  the  Lord  with  us  and  for  us,  feasted  us 
that  were  to  go,  at  our  pastor's  house,  being  large ;  where  we 
refreshed  ourselves,  after  tears,  with  singing  of  psalms,  mak- 
ing joyful  melody  in  our  hearts,  as  well  as  with  the  voice, 
there  being  many  of  the  congregation  very  expert  in  music  ; 
and,  indeed,  it  was  the  sweetest  melody  that  ever  mine  ears 
heard.  After  this  they  accompanied  us  to  Delft-Haven,  where 
we  went  to  embark,  and  then  feasted  us  again ;  and,  after 
prayer,  performed  by  our  pastor,  when  a  flood  of  tears  was 
poured  out,  they  accompanied  us  to  the  ship,  but  were  not  able 


206  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.;  ch.  xii. 

to  speak  one  to  another  for  the  abundance  of  sorrow  to  part. 
But  we  only,  going  aboard,  gave  them  a  volley  of  small  shot 
and  three  pieces  of  ordnance ;  and  so,  lifting  up  our  hands 
to  each  other,  and  our  hearts  for  each  other  to  the  Lord  our 
God,  we  departed." 

In  August  the  Mayflower  and  the  Speedwell  left  South- 
ampton for  America.  But  as  they  were  twice  compelled  to 
put  back  by  the  dismay  of  the  captain  of  the  Speedwell,  at 
Plymouth  "  they  agreed  to  dismiss  her,  and  those  who  were 
willing  returned  to  London,  though  this  was  very  grievous 
and  discouraging."  Having  thus  winnowed  their  numbers, 
the  little  band,  not  of  resolute  men  only,  but  wives,  some 
far  gone  in  pregnancy,  children,  infants,  a  floating  village  of 
one  hundred  and  two  souls,  went  on  board  the  single  ship, 
which  was  hired  only  to  convey  them  across  the  Atlantic ; 
and,  on  the  sixth  day  of  September,  1620,  thirteen  years  after 
the  first  colonization  of  Virginia,  they  set  sail  for  a  new  world. 

Had  'New  England  been  colonized  immediately  on  the 
discovery  of  the  American  continent,  the  old  English  insti- 
tutions would  have  been  planted  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
hierarchy  ;  had  the  settlement  been  made  under  Elizabeth,  it 
would  have  been  before  activity  of  the  popular  mind  in  reli- 
gion had  awakened  a  corresponding  activity  in  politics.  The 
pilgrims  were  Englishmen,  Protestants,,  exiles  for  conscience, 
men  disciplined  by  misfortune,  cultivated  by  opportunities  of 
wide  observation,  and  equal  in  rank  as  in  rights. 

The  eastern  coast  of  the  United  States  abounds  in  con- 
venient harbors,  bays,  and  rivers.  The  pilgrims,  having  se- 
lected for  their  settlement  the  country  on  the  Hudson,  the 
best  position  on  the  whole  coast,  were  conducted  to  the  least 
fertile  part  of  Massachusetts.  After  a  boisterous  voyage  of 
sixty-three  days,  during  which  one  person  had  died  and 
one  was  born,  they  espied  land ;  and,  in  two  days  more, 
on  the  ninth  of  November,  cast  anchor  in  the  first  harbor 
within  Cape  Cod.  On  the  eleventh,  before  they  landed,  they 
formed  themselves  into  a  body  politic  by  this  voluntary  com- 
pact: 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  amen ;  we,  whose  names  are  under- 
written, the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign  King  James, 


1620.  THE  PILGRIMS.  207 

having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  advancement  of 
the  Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  king  and  country,  a  voy- 
age to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia, 
do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence 
of  God  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves 
together  into  a  civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and 
preservation  and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid  ;  and,  by 
virtue  thereof,  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  and 
equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions,  and  offices,  from 
time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the  gen- 
eral good  of  the  colony.  Unto  which  we  promise  all  due  sub- 
mission and  obedience." 

This  instrument  was  signed  by  the  whole  body  of  men, 
forty-one  in  number,  who,  with  their  families,  constituted  the 
one  hundred  and  two,  the  whole  colony,  "  the  proper  democ- 
racy," that  arrived  in  IN'ew  England.  In  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower  humanity  recovered  its  rights,  and  instituted  gov- 
ernment on  the  basis  of  "equal  laws"  enacted  by  all  the 
people  for  "the  general  good."  John  Carver  was  immedi- 
ately and  unanimously  chosen  governor  for  the  year. 

Men  who  emigrate,  even  in  well-inhabited  districts,  pray 
that  their  journey  may  not  be  in  winter.  Wasted  by  the  rough 
voyage,  scantily  supplied  with  provisions,  the  English  fugi- 
tives found  themselves,  in  the  last  days  of  the  year,  on  a 
bleak  and  barren  coast,  in  a  severe  climate,  with  the  ocean 
on  one  side  and  the  wilderness  on  the  other.  The  nearest 
French  settlement  was  at  Port  Eoyal;  it  was  five  hundred 
miles  to  the  English  plantation  at  Virginia.  As  they  at- 
tempted to  disembark,  the  water  was  found  so  shallow  that 
they  were  forced  to  wade ;  and,  in  the  freezing  weather,  this 
sowed  the  seeds  of  consumption.  The  bitterness  of  mortal 
disease  was  their  welcome  to  the  inhospitable  shore. 

The  spot  for  the  settlement  remained  to  be  chosen.  The 
shallop  was  unshipped,  and  it  was  a  real  disaster  to  find  that 
it  needed  repairs.  The  carpenter  made  slow  work,  so  that 
sixteen  or  seventeen  days  elapsed  before  it  was  ready  for 
service.  .  But  Standish  and  Bradford  and  others,  impatient 
of  the  delay,  determined  to  explore  the  country  by  land. 
"  In  regard  to  the  danger,"  the  expedition  "  was  rather  per- 


208  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     part  i.;  oh.  xn. 

mitted  than  approved."  Much  hardship  was  endured;  but 
no  beneficial  discoveries  could  be  made  in  the  deep  sands 
near  Paomet  creek.  The  first  expedition  in  the  shallop  was 
likewise  unsuccessful;  "some  of  the  people  that  died  that 
winter  took  the  original  of  their  death "  in  the  enterprise ; 
"for  it  snowed  and  did  blow  all  the  day  and  night,  and 
froze  withal."  The  men  who  were  set  on  shore  "  were  tired 
with  marching  up  and  down  the  steep  hills  and  deep  val- 
leys, which  lay  half  a  foot  thick  with  snow."  A  heap  of 
maize  was  discovered ;  and  further  search  led  to  a  burial-place 
of  the  Indians  ;  but  they  found  "  no  more  corn,  nor  anything 
else  but  graves." 

On  the  sixth,  the  shallop  was  again  sent  out,  with  Carver, 
Bradford,  Winslow,  Standish,  and  others,  and  eight  or  ten 
seamen.  The  spray  of  the  sea  froze  as  it  fell  on  them,  and 
made  their  clothes  like  coats  of  iron.  That  day  they  reached 
Billingsgate  point,  half  way  to  the  bottom  of  the  bay  of  Cape 
Cod,  on  the  western  shore  of  Wellfleet  harbor.  The  next 
morning  the  party  divided ;  those  on  land  find  a  burial-place, 
graves,  and  four  or  five  deserted  wigwams,  but  neither  people 
nor  any  place  inviting  a  settlement.  Before  night  they  all 
met  by  the  sea-side,  and  encamped  near  Namskeket,  or  Great 
Meadow  creek. 

On  the  eighth  they  rose  at  five ;  their  morning  prayers 
were  finished,  when,  as  the  day  dawned,  a  war-whoop  and  a 
flight  of  arrows  announced  an  attack  from  Indians.  They 
were  of  the  tribe  of  the  Nausites,  who  knew  the  English  as 
kidnappers;  but  the  encounter  was  without  further  result. 
Again  the  boat's  crew  give  thanks  to  God,  and  steer  their 
bark  along  the  coast  for  the  distance  of  fifteen  leagues.  But 
no  convenient  harbor  is  discovered.  The  pilot,  who  had  been 
in  these  regions  before,  gives  assurance  of  a  good  one,  which 
may  be  reached  before  night ;  and  they  foUow  his  guidance. 
After  some  hours'  sailing,  a  storm  of  snow  and  rain  begins ; 
the  sea  swells;  the  rudder  breaks;  the  boat  must  now  be 
steered  with  oars ;  the  storm  increases ;  night  is  at  hand ;  to 
reach  the  harbor  before  dark,  as  much  sail  as  possible  is  borne  ; 
the  mast  breaks  into  three  pieces;  the  sail  falls  overboard; 
but  the  tide  is  favorable.     The  pilot,  in  dismay,  would  have 


1620-1621.  THE  PILGRIMS. 

run  the  boat  on  shore  in  a  cove  full  of  breakers.  "  About 
with  her,"  exclaimed  a  sailor,  "  or  we  are  cast  away."  Thej 
get  her  about  immediately ;  and,  passing  over  the  surf,  they 
enter  a  fair  sound,  and  shelter  themselves  under  the  lee  of  a 
small  rise  of  land.  It  becomes  dark,  and  the  rain  beats  fu- 
riously.    After  great  difficulty,  they  kindle  a  fire  on  shore. 

The  light  of  the  morning  of  the  ninth  showed  them  to  be 
on  a  small  island  within  the  entrance  of  a  harbor.  The  day 
was  spent  in  rest  and  repairs.  The  next  day  was  the  "  Christian 
sabbath,"  and  the  pilgrims  kept  it  sacredly,  though  every  con- 
sideration demanded  haste. 

On  Monday,  the  eleventh  of  December,  old  style,  on  the 
day  of  the  winter  solstice,  the  exploring  party  of  the  fore- 
fathers land  at  Plymouth.  That  day  is  kept  as  the  origin  of 
Kew  England. 

The  spot,  when  examined,  promised  them  a  home,  and 
on  the  fifteenth  the  Mayflower  was  safely  moored  in  its  har- 
bor. In  memory  of  the  hospitalities  which  the  company  had 
received  at  the  last  English  port  from  which  they  had  sailed, 
this  oldest  'New  England  colony  took  the  name  of  Plymouth. 
The  system  of  civil  government  had  been  established  by  com- 
mon agreement ;  the  church  had  been  organized  before  it  left 
Leyden.  As  the  pilgrims  landed,  their  institutions  were  al- 
ready perfected.  Democratic  liberty  and  -independent  Chris- 
tian worship  started  into  being. 

On  the  ninth  of  January,  1621,  they  began  to  build — a 
difficult  task  for  men  of  whom  one  half  were  wasting  away 
with  consumptions  and  lung- fevers.  For  the  sake  of  haste,  it 
was  agreed  that  every  man  should  build  his  own  house ;  but, 
though  the  winter  was  unwontedly  mild,  frost  and  foul  weather 
were  great  hindrances  ;  they  could  seldom  work  half  of  the 
week ;  and  tenements  rose  slowly  in  the  intervals  between 
storms  of  sleet  and  snow. 

A  few  years  before,  a  pestilence  had  swept  away  the 
neighboring  tribes.  Yet  when,  in  February,  a  body  of  In- 
dians from  abroad  was  discovered  hovering  near,  though  dis- 
appearing when  pursued,  the  colony  was  organized  for  de- 
fence, with  Miles  Standish  as  its  captain.  But  dangers  from 
the  natives  were  not  at  hand. 


210  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xii. 

One  day  in  March,  Samoset,  an  Indian  who  had  learned  a 
little  English  of  the  fishermen  at  Penobscot,  entered  the  town, 
and,  passing  to  the  rendezvous,  exclaimed  in  English :  "  Wel- 
come, Englishmen."  He  was  the  envoy  of  Massassoit  him- 
self, "  the  greatest  commander  of  the  country,"  sachem  of  the 
tribe  possessing  the  land  north  of  I^arragansett  bay,  and  be- 
tween the  rivers  of  Providence  and  Taunton.  After  some 
little  negotiation,  in  which  an  Indian,  who  had  been  carried 
to  England,  acted  as  an  interpreter,  the  chieftain  came  in 
person  to  visit  the  pilgrims.  With  their  wives  and  children 
they  amounted  to  no  more  than  fifty.  He  was  received  with 
due  ceremonies,  and  a  treaty  of  friendship  was  completed  in 
few  and  unequivocal  terms.  Both  parties  promised  to  abstain 
from  mutual  injuries,  and  to  deliver  up  offenders ;  the  colo- 
nists were  to  receive  assistance,  if  attacked;  to  render  it,  if 
Massassoit  should  be  attacked  unjustly.  The  treaty  included 
the  confederates  of  the  sachem ;  it  is  the  oldest  act  of  diplo- 
macy recorded  in  ]N^ew  England;  was  concluded  in  a  day; 
and  was  sacredly  kept  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Mas- 
sassoit needed  the  alliance,  for  the  powerful  Narragansetts 
were  his  enemies;  his  tribe  desired  an  interchange  of  com- 
modities ;  while  the  emigrants  obtained  peace,  security,  and 
a  profitable  commerce. 

On  the  third  of  March,  a  south  wind  had  brought  warm 
and  fair  weather.  "  The  birds  sang  in  the  woods  most  pleas- 
antly." But  spring  had  far  advanced  before  the  mortality 
grew  less.  It  was  afterward  remarked,  with  modest  gratitude, 
that,  of  the  survivors,  very  many  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age. 
A  shelter,  not  less  than  comfort,  had  been  wanting ;  the  living 
had  been  scarce  able  to  bury  the  dead;  the  well  too  few  to 
take  care  of  the  sick.  At  the  season  of  greatest  distress  there 
were  but  seven  able  to  render  assistance.  Carver,  the  gov- 
ernor, at  his  first  landing,  lost  a  son ;  by  his  care  for  the  com- 
mon good,  he  shortened  his  own  days ;  and  his  wife,  broken- 
hearted, followed  him  in  death.  Brewster  was  the  life  and 
stay  of  the  plantation ;  but,  he  being  its  ruling  elder,  William 
Bradford,  its  historian,  Tyas  chosen  Carver's  successor.  The 
record  of  misery  was  kept  by  the  graves  of  the  governor  and 
half  the  company. 


1621-1626.  THE  PILGRIMS.  211 

After  sickness  abated,  privation  and  want  remained  to  be 
encountered.  Yet,  when  in  April  the  Mayflower  was  de- 
spatched for  England,  not  one  returned  in  her,  while  just 
before  autumn  new  emigrants  arrived.  In  July,  an  embassy 
from  the  little  colony  to  Massassoit,  their  ally,  performed 
through  the  forests  and  on  foot,  confirmed  the  treaty  of  amity, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  a  trade  in  furs. 

The  influence  of  the  English  over  the  aborigines  was  rap- 
idly extended.  A  sachem,  who  menaced  their  safety,  was 
compelled  to  sue  for  mercy ;  and,  in  September,  nine  chiefs 
subscribed  an  instrument  of  submission  to  King  James.  The 
bay  of  Massachusetts  and  harbor  of  Boston  were  explored. 
The  supply  of  bread  was  scanty ;  but,  at  their  rejoicing  to- 
gether after  the  harvest,  the  colonists  had  great  plenty  of  wild 
fowl  and  venison,  so  that  they  feasted  Massassoit  with  some 
ninety  of  his  men. 

Canonieus,  the  sachem  of  the  Narragansetts,  whose  terri- 
tory had  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  pegtilence,  at  first  desired 
to  treat  of  peace ;  in  1622,  a  bundle  of  arrows,  wrapped  in 
the  skin  of  a  rattlesnake,  was  his  message  of  hostility.  But, 
when  Bradford  sent  back  the  skin  stuffed  with  powder  and 
shot,  his  courage  quailed,  and  he  sued  for  amity. 

The  returns  from  agriculture  were  uncertain  so  long  as  the 
system  of  common  property  prevailed.  After  the  harvest  of 
1623,  there  was  no  general  want  of  food ;  in  the  spring  of 
that  year,  each  family  planted  for  itself ;  and  parcels  of  land, 
in  proportion  to  numbers,  were  assigned  for  tillage,  though  not 
for  inheritance.  This  arrangement  produced  contented  labor 
and  universal  industry;  "even  women  and  children  now 
went  into  the  field  to  work."  In  the  spring  of  1624,  every 
person  obtained  a  little  land  in  perpetual  fee,  and  neat  cattle 
were  introduced.  Before  many  harvests,  so  much  com  was 
raised  that  the  Indians,  preferring  the  chase  to  tillage,  looked 
to  the  men  of  Plymouth  for  their  supply. 

The  fur  trade  was  an  object  of  envy ;  and  Thomas  Weston, 
who  had  been  active  among  the  London  adventurers  in  estab- 
lishing the  colony,  desired  to  engross  its  profits.  In  1622,  a 
patent  for  land  near  Weymouth,  the  first  plantation  in  Boston 
harbor,  was  easily  obtained;  and  sixty  men  were  sent  over. 


-  212  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xil 

Helpless  at  their  arrival,  they  intruded  themselves,  for  most 
of  the  summer,  upon  the  unrequited  hospitality  of  the  people 
of  Plymouth.  In  their  own  plantation,  they  were  soon  re- 
duced to  necessity  by  their  want  of  thrift  and  injustice  toward 
the  Indians ;  and  a  plot  was  formed  for  their  destruction.  But 
Massassoit  revealed  the  design  to  his  allies ;  and  the  planters 
at  Weymouth  were  saved  by  the  wisdom  of  the  older  colony 
and  the  intrepid  gallantry  of  Standish.  It  was  "  his  capital 
exploit."  Some  of  the  rescued  men  went  to  Plymouth  ;  some 
sailed  for  England.  One  short  year  saw  the  beginning  and 
decay  of  Weston's  adventure. 

The  partnership  of  the  Plymouth  men  with  English  mer- 
chants proved  oppressive ;  for  it  kept  from  them  their  pastor. 
Robinson  and  the  rest  of  his  church  at  Leyden  were  longing 
to  rejoin  their  brethren ;  the  adventurers  in  England  refused 
to  provide  them  a  passage,  and  attempted,  with  but  short 
success,  to  force  upon  the  colony  a  clergyman  more  friendly 
to  the  established  church.  Offended  by  opposition,  and  dis- 
couraged at  the  small  returns  from  their  investments,  they 
became  ready  to  prey  upon  their  associates  in  America.  A 
ship  was  despatched  to  rival  them  in  their  business ;  goods, 
which  were  sent  for  their  supply,  were  sold  to  them  at  an 
advance  of  seventy  per  cent.  The  curse  of  usury,  which 
always  falls  so  heavily  upon  new  settlements,  did  not  spare 
them;  for,  being  left  without  help  from  the  partners,  they 
were  obliged  to  borrow  money  at  fifty  per  cent  and  at  thirty 
per  cent  interest.  At  last  the  emigrants  purchased  the  entire 
rights  of  the  English  adventurers ;  and  the  common  property 
was  equitably  divided.  For  a  six  years'  monopoly  of  trade, 
eight  of  the  most  enterprising  men  assumed  all  the  engage- 
ments of  the  colony ;  so  that  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  became 
really  freeholders ;  neither  debts  nor  rent-day  troubled  them. 

Hardly  were  they  planted  in  America  when  their  enter- 
prise took  a  wide  range ;  before  Massachusetts  was  settled, 
they  had  acquired  rights  at  Cape  Ann,  as  well  as  an  extensive 
domain  on  the  Kennebec ;  and  they  were  the  first  of  the  Eng- 
lish to  establish  a  post  oh  the  Connecticut.  But  the  progress 
of  population  was  very  slow ;  and  at  the  end  of  ten  years  the 
colony  contained  no  more  than  three  hundred  souls.     Robin- 


1625-1645.  THE  PILGRIMS.  213 

son  died  at  Leyden ;  his  heart  was  in  America,  where  his 
memory  will  never  die.  The  remainder  of  his  people,  and 
with  them  his  wife  and  children,  came  over,  so  soon  as  means 
could  be  provided  to  defray  the  costs. 

The  frame  of  civil  government  in  the  old  colony  was  of 
the  utmost  simplicity.  A  governor  was  chosen  by  general 
suffrage,  whose  power,  always  subordinate  to  the  common  will, 
was,  at  the  desire  of  Bradford,  in  1624,  restricted  by  a  council 
of  five,  and,  in  1633,  of  seven,  assistants.  In  the  council,  the 
governor  had  but  a  double  vote.  There  could  be  no  law  or 
imposition  without  consent  of  the  freemen.  For  more  than- 
eighteen  years  "  the  whole  body  of  the  male  inhabitants  "  con- 
stituted the  legislature ;  the  state  was  governed,  like  a  town,  as 
a  strict  democracy ;  and  the  people  were  frequently  convened 
to  decide  on  executive  not  less  than  on  judicial  questions.  At 
length,  in  1639,  after  the  increase  of  population,  and  its  dif- 
fusion over  a  wider  territory,  each  town  sent  its  committee 
to  a  general  court. 

The  men  of  Plymouth  exercised  self-government  without 
the  sanction  of  a  royal  charter,  which  it  was  ever  impossible  for 
them  to  obtain  ;  it  was,  therefore,  in  themselves  that  their  in- 
stitutions found  the  guarantee  for  stability.  They  never  hesi- 
tated to  punish  small  offences  ;  it  was  only  after  some  scruples 
that  they  inflicted  capital  punishment.  Their  doubts  being 
once  removed,  they  exercised  the  same  authority  as  the  char- 
ter governments.  Death  was,  by  subsequent  laws,  made  the 
penalty  for  several  crimes,  but  was  never  inflicted  except  for 
murder.  House-breaking  and  highway  robbery  were  offences 
unknown  in  their  courts,  and  too  little  apprehended  to  be 
made  subjects  of  severe  legislation. 

"To  enjoy  religious  liberty  was  the  known  end  of  the  first 
comers'  great  adventure  into  this  remote  wilderness ; "  and  they 
desired  no  increase  but  from  the  friends  of  their  communion. 
Yet  their  residence  in  Holland  had  made  them  acquainted* 
with  various  forms  of  Christianity ;  a  wide  experience  had 
emancipated  them  from  bigotry ;  and  they  were  never  betrayed 
into  the  excesses  of  religious  persecution,  though  they  some^ 
times  permitted  a  disproportion  between  punishment  and 
crime.     In  1645,  a  majority  of  the  house  of  delegates  were  in 


214  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     pabt  i.  ;  oh.  xii. 

favor  of  an  act  to  "  allow  and  maintain  full  and  free  toleration 
to  all  men  that  would  preserve  the  civil  peace  and  submit  unto 
government ;  and  there  was  no  limitation  or  exception  against 
Turk,  Jew,  Papist,  Arian,  Socinian,  Nicolaitan,  Familist,  or 
any  other ; "  but  the  governor  refused  to  put  the  question,  and 
so  stifled  the  law. 

It  is  as  guides  and  pioneers  that  the  fathers  of  the  old  colony- 
merit  gratitude.  Through  scenes  of  gloom  and  misery  they 
showed  the  way  to  an  asylum  for  those  who  would  go  to  the  wil- 
derness for  the  liberty  of  conscience.  Accustomed  "  in  their 
native  land  to  a  plain  country  life  and  the  innocent  trade  of 
husbandry,"  they  set  the  example  of  colonizing  l!^ew  England 
with  freeholders,  and  formed  the  mould  for  the  civil  and  relig- 
ious character  of  its  institutions.  They  enjoyed,  in  anticipa- 
tion, the  fame  which  their  successors  would  award  to  them. 
''  Out  of  small  beginnings,"  said  Bradford,  "great  things  have 
been  produced ;  and,  as  one  small  candle  may  light  a  thousand, 
so  the  light  here  kindled  hath  shone  to  many,  yea,  in  some 
sort  to  our  whole  nation."  "  Let  it  not  be  grievous  to  you  " 
— such  was  the  consolation  offered  from  England  to  the  pil- 
grims in  the  season  of  their  greatest  sufferings — "  let  it  not  be 
grievous  to  you  that  you  have  been  instruments  to  break  the 
ice  for  others.  The  honor  shall  be  yours  to  the  world's  end." 
"  Yea,  the  memory  of  the  adventurers  to  this  plantation  shall 
never  die." 


1620-1623.  NEW  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  215 


CHAPTEK  XIII. 


While  the  king  was  engaged  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Lon- 
don company,  its  more  loyal  rival  in  the  West  of  England 
sought  new  letters-patent  with  a  great  enlargement  of  their 
domain.  The  remonstrances  of  the  Virginia  corporation  and 
the  rights  of  English  commerce  could  delay  for  two  years,  but 
not  defeat,  the  measure  that  was  pressed  by  the  friends  of  the 
monarch.  On  the  third  of  ]JTovember,  1620,  King  James  in- 
corporated forty  of  his  subjects — some  of  them  members  of  his 
household  and  his  government,  the  most  wealthy  and  power- 
ful of  the  English  nobility — as  "  The  Council  established  at 
Plymouth,  in  the  county  of  Devon,  for  the  planting,  ruling, 
ordering,  and  governing  'New  England,  in  America."  The 
territory,  which  was  conferred  on  them  in  absolute  property, 
with  unlimited  powers  of  legislation  and  government,  extended 
from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-eighth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  grant  included  the 
fisheries ;  and  a  .revenue  was  considered  certain  from  a  duty 
to  be  imposed  on  all  tonnage  employed  in  them. 

The  patent  placed  emigrants  to  New  England  under  the 
absolute  authority  of  the  corporation,  and  it  was  through 
grants  from  that  plenary  power,  confirmed  by  the  crown,  that 
institutions  the  most  favorable  to  colonial  independence  and 
the  rights  of  mankind  came  into  being.  The  French  derided 
the  action  of  the  British  monarch  in  bestowing  lands  and  priv- 
ileges which  their  own  sovereign  seventeen  years  before  had 
appropriated.  The  English  nation  was  incensed  at  the  lar- 
gess of  immense  monopolies  by  the  royal  prerogative ;  and  in 
April,  1621,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  brought  the  grievance  before 


216  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xiil 

the  house  of  commons.  ^'  Shall  the  English,"  he  asked,  "  be 
debarred  from  the  freedom  of  the  fisheries — a  privilege  which 
the  French  and  Dutch  enjoy  ?  It  costs  the  kingdom  nothing 
but  labor,  employs  shipping,  and  furnishes  the  means  of  a 
lucrative  commerce  with  Spain."  "The  fishermen  hinder 
the  plantations,"  replied  Calvert ;  "  they  choke  the  harbors 
with  their  ballast,  and  waste  the  forests  by  improvident  use. 
America  is  not  annexed  to  the  realm,  nor  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  parliament.  You  have,  therefore,  no  right  to  inter- 
fere." "  We  may  make  laws  for  Virginia,"  rejoined  another 
member ;  "  a  bill  passed  by  the  commons  and  the  lords,  if  it 
receive  the  king's  assent,  will  control  the  patent."  The  char- 
ter, argued  Sir  Edward  Coke,  with  ample  reference  to  early 
statutes,  was  granted  without  regard  to  previously  existing 
rights,  and  is  therefore  void  by  the  established  laws  of  Eng- 
land. But  the  parliament  was  dissolved  before  a  bill  could 
be  perfected. 

In  1622,  five-and-thirty  sail  of  vessels  went  to  fish  on  the 
coasts  of  ^ew  England,  and  made  good  voyages.  The  monop- 
olists appealed  to  King  James,  and  he  issued  a  proclamation, 
which  forbade  any  to  approach  the  northern  coast  of  Amer- 
ica, except  with  the  leave  of  their  company  or  of  the  privy 
council.  In  June,  1623,  Francis  West  was  despatched  as  ad- 
miral of  New  England,  to  exclude  such  fishermen  as  came 
without  a  license.  But  they  refused  to  pay  the  tax  which  he 
imposed,  and  his  ineffectual  authority  was  soon  resigned. 

The  company,  alike  prodigal  of  charters  and  tenacious  of 
their  monopoly,  having,  in  December,  1622,  given  to  Robert 
Gorges,  the  son  of  Sir  Ferdinando,  a  patent  for  a  tract  extend- 
ing ten  miles  on  Massachusetts  bay  and  thirty  miles  into  the 
interior,  appointed  him  lieutenant-general  of  'New  England, 
with  power  "  to  restrain  interlopers."  Morell,  an  Episcopal 
clergyman,  was  provided  with  a  commission  for  the  superin- 
tendence of  ecclesiastical  affairs.  In  1623,  under  this  patent 
the  colony  at  Weymouth  was  revived,  to  meet  once  more  with 
ill  fortune.  Morell,  remaining  in  New  England  about  a  year, 
wrote  a  description  of  the  country  in  very  good  Latin  verse. 
The  attempt  of  Kobert  Gorges  at  colonization  ended  in  a 
short-lived  dispute  with  Weston, 


1321-1635.  NEW  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  217 

When,  in  1624,  parliament  was  again  convened,  the  com- 
mons resolved  that  English  fishermen  should  have  fishing 
with  all  its  incidents.  "  Your  patent,"  thus  Gorges  was  ad- 
dressed by  Coke  from  the  speaker's  chair,  "  contains  many 
particulars  contrary  to  the  laws  and  privileges  of  the  subject ; 
it  is  a  monopoly,  and  the  ends  of  private  gain  are  concealed 
under  color  of  planting  a  colony."  "Shall  none,"  asked  the 
veteran  lawyer  in  debate,  "  shall  none  visit  the  sea-coast  for 
fishing?  This  is  to  make  a  monopoly  upon  the  seas,  which 
wont  to  be  free.  If  you  alone  are  to  pack  and  dry  fish,  you 
attempt  a  monopoly  of  the  wind  and  the  sun."  It  was  in  vain 
for  Sir  George  Calvert  to  resist ;  the  bill  for  free  fishing  was 
adopted,  but  it  never  received  the  royal  assent. 

The  determined  opposition  of  the  house,  though  it  could 
not  move  the  king  to  overthrow  the  corporation,  paralyzed  its 
enterprise ;  and  the  cottages,  which,  within  a  few  years,  rose 
along  the  coast  from  Cape  Cod  to  the  bay  of  Fundy,  were  the 
results  of  private  adventure. 

Gorges,  the  most  energetic  member  of  the  council  of 
Plymouth,  had  not  allowed  repeated  ill  success  to  chill  his 
confidence  and  decision  ;  and  he  found  in  John  Mason,  "  who 
had  been  governor  of  a  plantation  in  Newfoundland,  a  man 
of  action,"  like  himself.  It  was  not  difficult  for  Mason,  who 
had  been  elected  an  associate  and  secretary  of  the  council,  to 
obtain,  in  March,  1621,  a  grant  of  the  lands  between  Salem 
river  and  the  farthest  head  of  the  Merrimack ;  but  he  did  no 
more  with  it  than  name  it  Mariana.''  In  August,  1622,  Gorges 
and  Mason  took  a  patent  for  Laconia,  the  country  between  the 
sea,  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Merrimack,  and  the  Kennebec ;  a 
company  of  English  merchants  was  formed,  and  under  its 
auspices,  in  1623,  permanent  plantations  were  established  on 
the  banks  of  the  Piscataqua.  Portsmouth  and  Dover  are 
among  the  oldest  towns  in  New  England.  In  the  same  year 
an  attempt  was  made  by  Christopher  Lovett  to  colonize  the 
county  and  city  of  York,  for  which,  at  a  later  day,  collections 
were  ordered  to  be  taken  up  in  all  the  churches  of  England. 

When  the  country  on  Massachusetts  bay  was  granted  to  a 
company,  of  which  the  zeal  and  success  were  soon  to  over- 
phadow  all  the  efforts  of  proprietaries  and  merchatits,  Mason 

VOL.  I. — 16 


ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  xiii. 

ired  a  new  patent ;  and,  in  November,  1629,  he  received 
xi-e'sh  title  to  the  territory  between  the  Merrimack  and  Pis- 
cataqua,  in  terms  which  in  some  degree  interfered  with  the 
pretensions  of  his  neighbors  on  the  south.  This  was  the  pat- 
ent for  Kew  Hampshire,  and  was  pregnant  with  nothing  so 
signally  as  suits  at  law.  The  region  had  been  devastated  by 
the  mutual  wars  of  the  tribes  and  the  same  wasting  pestilence 
which  left  'New  Plymouth  a  desert ;  no  notice  seems  to  have 
been  taken  of  the  rights  of  the  natives,  nor  did  they  now  issue 
any  deed  of  their  lands ;  but  the  soil  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Dover,  and  afterward  of  Portsmouth,  was  conveyed  to  the 
planters  themselves,  or  to  those  at  whose  expense  the  settle- 
ment had  been  made.  A  favorable  impulse  was  thus  given 
to  the  little  colonies;  and  houses  began  to  be  built  on  the 
"  Strawberry  Bank  "  of  the  Piscataqua.  -  But  the  progress  of 
the  town  was  slow ;  Josselyn,  in  1638,  described  the  coast  as  a 
wilderness,  with  here  and  there  a  few  huts  scattered  by  the 
sea-side.  Thirty  years  after  its  settlement,  Portsmouth  con- 
tained "  between  fifty  and  sixty  families." 

When,  in  1635,  the  charter  of  the  council  of  Plymouth 
was  about  to  be  revoked,  Mason  extended  his  pretensions  to 
the  Salem  river,  the  southern  boundary  of  his  first  territory, 
and  obtained  of  the  expiring  corporation  a  corresponding  pa- 
tent. But  he  died  before  the  king  confirmed  his  grant,  and 
his  family  avoided  further  expense  by  leaving  the  few  inhabi- 
tants of  New  Hampshire  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

The  designs  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  were  continued 
without  great  success.  His  first  act  with  reference  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  present  state  of  Maine  was  to  invite  the  Scottish 
nation  to  become  the  guardians  of  its  frontier.  Sir  William 
Alexander,  the  ambitious  writer  of  turgid  rhymingtragedles, 
a  man  of  influence  with  King  James,  and  desirous  of  engag- 
ing in  colonial  adventure,  seconded  the  design ;  and,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1621,  he  obtained  without  difliculty  a  patent  for  the 
territory  east  of  the  river  St.  Croix  and  south  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  region,  which  had  already  been  included  in  the 
provinces  of  Acadia  and  New  France,  was  named  Nova  Scotia. 
Thus  were  the  seeds  of  future  wars  scattered  broadcast ;  for 
James  gave  away  lands  which  already,  and  with  a  better  title 


1622-1631.  NEW  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  219 

on  the  ground  of  discovery,  had  been  granted  by  Henry  lY 
of  France,  and  occupied  by  his  subjects.  Twice  attempt 
were  made  to  effect  a  Scottish  settlement ;  but^  not  withstand 
ing  a  brilliant  eulogy  of  the  soil,  climate,  and  productions  oi 
Nova  Scotia,  they  were  fruitless. 

It  may  be  left  to  English  historians  to  relate  how  much 
their  country  suffered  from  the  childish  ambition  of  King 
James  to  marry  the  prince  of  Wales  to  the  daughter  of  the 
king  of  Spain.  In  the  rash  and  unsuccessful  visit  of  Prince 
Charles  and  Buckingham  to  Madrid,  the  former  learned  to 
cherish  the  fine  arts,  and  to  rivet  his  belief  that  the  king  of 
England  was  rightfully  as  absolute  as  the  monarchs  of  France 
and  Spain ;  the  latter  received  accounts  of  abundance  of  gold 
in  the  valley  of  the  Amazon,  and,  after  his  return,  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  territory  on  that  river,  with  the  promise  of  aid  in 
his  enterprise  from  the  king  of  Sweden. 

After  the  death  of  James,  the  marriage  of  Charles  I.  with 
Henrietta  Maria  promised  between  the  rival  claimants  of  the 
wilds  of  Acadia  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  jarring  pretensions. 
Yet,  even  at  that  period,  the  claims  of  France  were  not  recog- 
nised by  England  ;  and,  in  July,  1625,  a  new  patent  confirmed 
to  Sir  William  Alexander  all  the  prerogatives  which  had  been 
lavished  on  him,  with  the  right  of  creating  an  order  of  baron- 
ets. The  sale  of  titles  proved  to  the  poet  a  lucrative  traffic  ; 
the  project  of  a  colony  was  abandoned. 

The  self-willed,  feeble  monarch  of  England,  having  twice 
abruptly  dissolved  parliament,  and  having  vainly  resorted  to 
illegal  modes  of  taxation,  found  himself  destitute  of  money  and 
of  credit,  and  yet  engaged  in  a  war  with  Spain.  At  such  a  mo- 
ment, in  1627,  Buckingham,  eager  to  thwart  Richelieu,  hurried 
England  into  a  needless  and  disastrous  conflict  with  France. 

Hostilities  were  nowhere  successfully  attempted,  except  in 
America.  In  1628,  Port  Royal  fell  easily  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  ;  the  conquest  was  no  more  than  the  acquisition  of  a 
small  trading  station.  Sir  David  Kirk  and  his  two  brothers, 
Louis  and  Thomas,  were  commissioned  to  ascend  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  Quebec  received  a  summons  to  surrender.  The 
garrison,  destitute  alike  of  provisions  and  of  military  stores, 
had  no  hope  but  in  the  character  of  Champlain,  its  com- 


220  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.;  ch.  xiil 

mander ;  his  answer  of  proud  defiance  concealed  his  weakness, 
and  the  intimidated  assailants  withdrew.  But  Kichelieu  sent 
no  seasonable  supplies  ;  the  garrison  was  reduced  to  extreme 
suffering  and  the  verge  of  famine ;  and  when,  in  1629,  the 
squadron  of  Kirk  reappeared  before  the  town,  Quebec  capitu- 
lated. That  is  to  say,  England  gained  possession  of  a  few 
wretched  hovels,  tenanted  by  a  hundred  famished  men,  and  a 
fortress  of  which  the  English  admiral  could  not  but  admire 
the  position.  Not  a  port  in  Korth  America  remained  to  the 
French ;  from  Long  Island  to  the  pole,  England  had  no  rival. 
But,  before  the  conquest  of  Canada  was  achieved,  peace  had 
been  proclaimed ;  and,  as  an  article  in  the  treaty  promised  the 
restitution  of  all  acquisitions  made  subsequent  to  April  14, 
1629,  Richelieu  recovered  not  Quebec  and  Canada  only,  but 
Cape  Breton  and  the  undefined  Acadia. 

From  the  scanty  memorials  which  the  earliest  settlers  of 
the  coast  east  of  I^ew  Hampshire  have  left,  it  is  perhaps  not 
possible  to  ascertain  precisely  when  the  fishing  stages  of  a  sum- 
mer began  to  be  transformed  into  permanent  establishments. 
In  1626,  the  first  settlement  was  probably  made  "  on  the  Maine,'* 
a  few  miles  from  Monhegau,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pemaquid. 

Hardly  had  the  settlement,  which  claimed  the  distinction 
of  being  the  oldest  on  that  coast,  gained  a  permanent  exist- 
ence, before  a  succession  of  patents  distributed  the  territory 
from  the  Piscataqua  to  the  Penobscot  among  various  pro- 
prietors. The  grants  issued  from  1629  to  1631  were  couched 
in  vague  language,  and  were  made  in  hasty  succession,  with- 
out deliberation  on  the  part  of  the  council  of  Plymouth,  and 
without  any  firm  purpose  of  establishing  colonies  by  those  to 
whom  they  were  issued.  In  consequence,  as  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  French  foreboded  border  feuds,  so  uncertainty 
about  land  titles  and  boundaries  threatened  perpetual  law- 
suits. At  the  same  time  enterprise  was  wasted  by  its  diffu- 
sion over  too  wide  a  surface.  Every  harbor  along  the  sea 
was  accessible,  and  groups  of  cabins  were  scattered  at  wide  in- 
tervals, without  any  point  of  union.  Agriculture  was  hardly 
attempted.  The  musket  and  the  hook  and  line  were  more 
productive  than  the  implements  of  husbandry.  The  farmers 
who  came  to  occupy  a  district  of  forty  miles  square,  named 


1625-1628.  NEW  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  221   \ 

Lygonia,  and  Btretching  from  Harpswell  to  the  Kennebec,  soon      \ 
sought  a  home  among  the  rising  settlements  of  Massachusetts. 
Except  for  peltry  and  fish,  the  coast  of  Maine  would  not  at 
that  time  have  been  tenanted  by  Englishmen. 

Yet,  from  pride  of  character,  Gorges  clung  to  the  project 
of  territorial  aggrandizement.  When,  in  February,  1635, 
Mason  limited  himself  to  the  country  west  of  the  Piscataqua, 
while  Sir  William  Alexander  obtained  of  the  Plymouth  com- 
pany a  patent  for  the  country  between  the  St.  Croix  and  the 
Kennebec,  Gorges  succeeded  in  soliciting  the  district  that 
remained  between  the  Kennebec  and  'New  Hampshire,  and 
was  named  governor-general  of  New  England.  Without  de- 
lay he  sent  his  nephew,  William  Gorges,  to  govern  his  terri- 
tory. Saco  may  have  contained  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhab- 
itants when,  in  1636,  the  first  court  ever  duly  organized  on 
the  soil  of  Maine  was  held  within  its  limits.  Before  that 
time  there  may  have  been  voluntary  combinations  of  the  set- 
tlers themselves ;  but  there  had  existed  on  the  Kennebec  no 
power  to  prevent  or  to  punish  bloodshed.  William  Gorges 
remained  in  the  country  less  than  two  years.  Six  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  who,  in  1637,  received  a  com- 
mission to  act  as  his  successors,  declined  the  trust,  and  for 
two  years  no  records  of  the  infant  settlements  then  called 
New  Somersetshire  can  be  found.  In  April,  1639,  a  royal 
charter  constituted  Gorges  the  lord  proprietary  of  the  coun- 
try, for  which  the  old  soldier,  who  had  never  seen  America, 
immediately  aspired  to  establish  boroughs,  frame  schemes  of 
colonial  government,  and  enact  a  code  of  laws. 

The  region  which  lies  but  a  little  nearer  the  sun  was 
already  converted,  by  the  energy  of  religious  zeal,  into  a  busy, 
well-organized,  and  even  opulent  state.  The  early  history  of 
Massachusetts  is  the  history  of  a  class  of  men  as  remarkable 
for  their  qualities  and  influence  as  any  by  which  the  human 
race  has  been  diversified. 

The  settlement  near  Weymoirth  was  kept  up ;  a  planta- 
tion was  begun  near  Mount  WoUaston,  within  the  present 
limits  of  Quincy  ;  and  the  merchants  of  tlie  west  continued 
their  voyages  to  Now  England  for  fish  and  furs.  But  these 
things  were  of  feeble  moment,  compared  with  the  attempt  at 


222  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.;  oh.  xni. 

a  permanent  establishment  near  Cape  Ann  ;  by  which  Arthur 
Lake,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  John  White,  the  patri- 
arch minister  of  Dorchester,  Puritans,  but  not  separatists, 
"  occasioned,  yea,  founded  the  work "  of  colonization,  on  a 
higher  principle  than  the  desire  of  gain.  "  He  would  go 
himself  but  for  his  age,"  declared  Lake  shortly  before  his 
death.  Roger  Conant,  having  left  New  Plymouth  for  Nan- 
tasket,  through  a  brother  in  England  who  was  a  friend  of 
White,  the  minister,  in  1625,  obtained  the  agency  of  the  ad- 
venture. A  year's  experience  proved  that  the  speculation 
must  change  its  form  or  it  would  produce  no  results ;  the 
merchants,  therefore,  paid  with  honest  liberality  all  the  per- 
sons whom  they  had  employed,  and  abandoned  the  unprofit- 
able scheme.  But  Conant,  a  man  of  extraordinary  vigor,  "  in- 
spired as  it  were  by  some  superior  instinct,"  and  confiding  in 
the  active  friendship  of  White,  succeeded  in  breathing  a  por- 
tion of  his  sublime  courage  into  three  of  his  companions; 
and,  making  choice  of  Salem  as  opening  a  convenient  place 
of  refuge  for  the  exiles  for  religion,  they  resolved  to  remain 
as  the  sentinels  of  Puritanism  on  the  bay  of  Massachusetts. 

In  the  year  1627,  some  friends  being  together  in  Lincoln- 
shire fell  into  discourse  about  New  England  and  the  plant- 
ing of  the  gospel  there  ;  and,  after  some  deliberation,  they 
imparted  their  reasons  by  letters  and  messages  to  some  in  Lon- 
don and  the  west  country. 

"  The  business  came  afresh  to  agitation  "  in  London  ;  the 
project  of  colonizing  by  the  aid  of  fishing  voyages  was  given 
up ;  and  from  that  city,  Lincolnshire,  and  the  west  country, 
men  of  fortune  and  religious  zeal,  merchants  and  country 
gentlemen,  the  discreeter  sort  among  the  many  who  desired  a 
reformation  in  church  government,  "  offered  the  help  of  their 
purses  "  to  advance  "  the  glory  of  God  "  by  establishing  a  col- 
ony of  the  best  of  their  countrymen  on  the  shores  of  New 
England.  To  facilitate  the  grant  of  a  charter  from  the  crown, 
they  sought  the  concurrence  of  the  council  of  Plymouth  for 
New  England  ;  they  were  befriended  in  their  application  by 
the  earl  of  Warwick,  and  obtained  the  approbation  of  Sir 
Eerdinando  Gorges ;  and,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  1628, 
that  company,  which  had  proved  itself  incapable  of  colonizing 


V 


1628-1629.  NEW  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  223 

its  domain,  and  could  derive  revenue  only  from  sales  of  terri- 
tory, disregarding  a  former  grant  of  a  large  district  on  the 
Charles  river,  conveyed  to  Sir  Henry  Eosvv^ell,  Sir  John 
Young,  Thomas  Southcoat,  John  Humphrey,  John  Endecott, 
and  Simon  Whetcomb,  a  belt  of  land  extending  three  miles 
south  of  the  river  Charles  and  the  Massachusetts  bay,  and 
three  miles  north  of  every  part  of  the  river  Merrimack,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  to  be  held  by  the  same  ten- 
ure as  in  the  county  of  Kent.  The  grantees  associated  to  them- 
selves Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Isaac  Johnson,  Matthew  Cra- 
dock.  Increase  No  well,  Richard  Bellingham,  Theophilus  Eaton, 
William  Pynchon,  and  others,  of  whom  nearly  all  united 
religious  zeal  with  a  capacity  for  vigorous  action.  Endecott 
— who,  "  ever  since  the  Lord  in  mercy  had  revealed  himself 
unto  him,"  had  maintained  the  straitest  judgment  against 
the  outward  form  of  God's  worship  as  prescribed  by  English 
statutes;  a  man  of  dauntless  courage,  and  that  cheerfulness 
which  accompanies  courage  ;  benevolent,  though  austere  ;  firm, 
though  choleric ;  of  a  rugged  nature,  which  his  stem  princi- 
ples of  non-conformity  had  not  served  to  mellow — was  selected 
as  a  "  fit  instrument  to  begin  this  wilderness  work."  In  1628, 
before  June  came  to  an  end,  he  was  sent  over  as  governor, 
assisted  by  a  few  men,  having  his  wife  and  family  for  the 
companions  of  his  voyage,  the  hostages  of  his  irrevocable 
attachment  to  the  l^ew  World.  Arriving  in  safety  in  Sep- 
tember, he  united  his  own  party  and  those  who  had  gone  there 
before  him  into  one  body,  which  counted  in  all  not  much 
above  fifty  or  sixty  persons.  With  these  he  founded  the  old- 
.est  town  in  the  colony,  soon  to  be  called  Salem,  and  extended 
some  supervision  over  the  waters  of  Boston  harbor,  then  called 
Massachusetts  bay,  near  which  the  lands  were  "  counted  the 
paradise  of  New  England."  At  Charlestown  an  Englishman, 
one  Thomas  Walford,  a  blacksmith,  dwelt  in  a  thatched  and 
palisaded  cabin.  William  Blackstone,  an  Episcopal  clergy- 
man, a  courteous  recluse,  gifted  with  the  impatience  of  re- 
straint which  belongs  to  the  pioneer,  had  seated  himself  on 
the  opposite  peninsula  ;  the  island  now  known  as  East  Boston 
was  occupied  by^Samuel  Maverick^aprelatist,  though  son  of 
a  pious  non-conformist  mimster_of_thewest  of  England.     At 


ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  xiii. 

itasket  and  farther  south,  stragglers  lingered  near  the  sea- 

;,  attracted  by  the  gains  of  a  fishing  station  and  a  petty 
trade  in  beaver.  The  Puritan  ruler  visited  the  remains  of 
Morton's  unruly  company  in  what  is  now  Quincy,  rebuked 
them  for  their  profane  revels,  and  admonished  them  "  to  look 
there  should  be  better  walking." 

After  the  departure  of  the  emigrant  ship  from  England, 
the  company,  counselled  by  White,  an  eminent  lawyer,  and 
supported  by  Lord  Dorchester,  better  known  as  Sir  Dudley 
Carleton,  who,  in  December,  became  secretary  of  state,  ob- 
tained from  the  king  a  confirmation  of  their  grant.  It  was 
the  only  way  to  secure  the  country  as  a  part  of  his  dominions  ; 
for  the  Dutch  were  already  trading  in  the  Connecticut  river ; 
the  French  claimed  IN'ew  England  as  within  the  limits  of 
'New  France ;  and  the  prelatical  party,  which  had  endeavored 
again  and  again  to  colonize  the  coast,  had  tried  only  to  fail. 
Before  the  news  reached  London  of  Endecott's  arrival,  the 
number  of  adventurers  was  much  enlarged  ;  on  the  second  of 
March,  1§22,  an  offer  of  "  Boston  men,"  that  promised  good 
to  the  plantation,  was  accepted ;  and  on  the  fourth  of  the 
same  month,  a  few  days  only  before  Charles  I.,  in  a  public 
state  paper,  avowed  his  purpose  of  reigning  without  a  parlia- 
ment, the  broad  seal  of  England  was  put  to  the  letters-patent 
for  Massachusetts. 

The  charter,  which  was  cherished  for  more  than  half  a 
century  as  the  most  precious  boon,  constituted  a  body  politic 
by  the  name  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay  in  New  England.  The  administration  of  its  affairs 
was  intrusted  to  a  governor,  deputy,  and  eighteen  assistants, 
who  were  annually,  on  the  last  Wednesday  of  Easter  term,  to 
be  elected  by  the  freemen  or  members  of  the  corporation,  and 
c\^to  meet  once  a  month  or  oftener  "for  despatching  such  busi- 
nesses as  concerned  the  company  or  plantation."  Four  times 
a  year  the  governor,  assistants,  and  all  the  freemen  were  to 
be  summoned  to  "  one  great,  general,  and  solemn  assembly  ; " 
and  these  "  great  and  general  courts  "  were  invested  with  full 
powers  to  choose  and  admit  into  the  company  so  many  as 
they  should  think  fit,  to  elect  and  constitute  all  requisite  sub- 
ordinate officers,  and  to  make  laws  and  ordinances  for  the 


1629.  NEW   ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION. 

welfare  of  the  company  and  for  the  government  of  the  lands 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  plantation,  "so  as  such  laws  and 
ordinances  be  not  contrary  and  repugnant  to  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  the  realm  of  England." 

"The  principle  and  foundation  of  the  charter  of  Mas- 
sachusetts," wrote  Charles  II.  at  a  later  day,  when  he  had 
Clarendon  for  his  adviser,  "was  the  freedom  of  liberty  of 
conscience."  The  governor,  or  his  deputy,  or  two  of  the 
assistants,  was  empowered,  but  not  required,  to  administer 
the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiaTip.p.  to  pvpry  ppranri  -^hn 
should  go  to  inhabit  the  granted  lands ;  and,  as  the  statutes 
establishing  the  common  prayer  and  spiritual  courts  did  not 
reach  beyond  the  realm,  the  silence  of  the  charter  respecting 
them  released  the  colony  from  their  power.  The  English 
government  did  not  foresee  how  wide  a  departure  from  Eng- 
lish usages  would  grow  out  of  the  emigration  of  Puritans  to 
America ;  but,  as  conformity  was  not  required  of  the  new  com- 
monwealth, the  persecutions  in  England  were  a  guarantee  that 
the  immense  majority  of  emigrants  would  be  fugitives  who 
scrupled  compliance  with  the  common  prayer.  Freedom  of 
Puritan  worship  was  the  purpose  and  the  result  of  the  colony. 
The  proceedings  of  the  company,  moreover,  did  not  fall  under 
the  immediate  supervision  of  the  king,  and  did  not  need  his 
assent ;  so  that  self-direction,  in  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil 
affairs,  passed  to  the  patentees,  subject  only  to  conflicts  with 
the  undefined  prerogative  of  the  king,  and  the  unsettled  claim 
to  superior  authority  by  parliament. 

The  company  was  authorized  to  transport  to  its  territory 
any  persons,  whether  English  or  foreigners,  who  would  go 
willingly,  would  become  lieges  of  the  English  king,  and  were 
not  restrained  "  by  especial  name  ; "  and  they  were  encouraged 
to  do  so  by  a  promise  of  favor  to  the  commerce  of  the  colojiy 
with  foreign  parts,  and  a  total  or  partial  exemption  from  duties 
for  seven  and  for  twenty-one  years.  The  emigrants  and  their 
posterity  were  ever  to  be  considered  as  natural-born  subjects, 
entitled  to  all  English  liberties  and  immunities. 

The  corporate  body  alone  was  to  decide  what  liberties  the 
colonists  fihmilri  enjoy.  All  ordinances  published  under  its 
seal  were  to  be  implicitly  obeyed.     Full  legislative  and  execu- 


226  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xiii. 

tive  authority  was  conferred  on  the  company,  but  the  place 
where  it  should  hold  its  courts  was  not  named. 

The  charter  had  been  granted  in  March  ;  in  April,  the  first 
embarkation  was  far  advanced.  The  local  government  tem- 
porarily established  for  Massachusetts  was  to  consist  of  a  gov- 
ernor and  thirteen  councillors,  of  whom  eight  were  to  be 
appointed  by  the  corporation  in  England  ;  three  were  to  be 
named  by  these  eight ;  and,  to  complete  the  number,  the  old 
planters  who  intended  to  remain  were  "  to  choose  two  of  the 
discreetest  men  among  themselves." 

As  the  propagating  of  the  gospel  was  the  professed  aim 
of  the  company,  care  was  taken  to  make  plentiful  provision 
of  godly  ministers ;  all  "  of  one  judgment,  and  fully  agreed  on 
the  manner  how  to  exercise  their  ministry."  One  of  them 
was  Samuel  Skelton,  of  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  from  whose 
faithful  preachings  Endecott  had  formerly  Teceived  much 
good  ;  a  friend  to  the  utmost  equality  of  privileges  in  church 
and  state.  Another  was  the  able,  reverend,  and  grave  Francis 
Higginson,  of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  commended  for  his 
worth  by  Isaac  Johnson,  the  friend  of  Hampden  Deprived 
of  his  parish  in  Leicester  for  non-conformity,  he  received  the 
invitation  to  conduct  the  emigrants  as  a  call  from  Heaven. 

Two  other  ministers  were  added,  that  there  might  be 
enough,  not  only  to  build  up  those  of  the  English  nation,  but 
also  to  "  Wynne  the  natives  to  the  Christian  faith."  "  If  any 
of  the  salvages,"  such  were  the  instructions  to  Endecott,  uni- 
formly followed  under  the  succeeding  changes  of  government, 
"  pretend  right  of  inheritance  to  all  or  any  part  of  the  lands 
granted  in  our  patent,  endeavor  to  purchase  their  tytle,  that 
we  may  avoid  the  least  scruple  of  intrusion,"  ^*  Particularly 
publish  that  no  wrong  or  injury  be  offered  to  the  natives."  In 
pious  sincerity,  the  company  desired  to  redeem  these  wrecks  of 
human  nature ;  the  colony  seal  was  an  Indian  erect,  with  an 
arrow  in  his  right  hand,  and  the  motto,  "  Come  over  and  help 
us  " — a  device  of  which  the  appropriateness  has  been  lost  by 
the  modern  substitution  of  the  line  of  Algernon  Sidney,  which 
invites  to  the  quest  of  freedom  by  the  sword. 

The  passengers  for  Salem  included  six  shipwrights  and  an 
experienced  surveyor,  who  was  to  give  advice  on  the  proper 


1629.  NT:W  ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  227 

Bite  for  a  fortified  town,  and,  with  Samuel  Sliarpe,  master 
gunner  of  ordnance,  was  to  muster  all  such  as  lived  under  the 
government,  both  planters  and  servants,  and  at  appointed 
times  to  exercise  them  in  the  use  of  arms.  A  store  of  cattle, 
horses,  and  goats  was  put  on  shipboard.  Before  sailing,  ser- 
vants of  ill  life  were  discharged.  "  "No  idle  drone  may  live 
among  us,"  was  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  law  of  the  dauntless 
community.  As  Higginson  and  his  companions  were  reced- 
ing from  the  Land's  End,  he  called  his  children  and  others 
around  him  to  look  for  the  last  time  on  their  native  country, 
not  as  the  scene  of  sufferings  from  intolerance,  but  as  the  home 
of  their  fathers,  and  the  dwelling-place  of  their  friends.  Dur- 
ing the  voyage  they  "  constantly  served  God,  morning  and 
evening,  by  reading  and  expounding  a  chapter  in  the  Bible, 
singing  and  prayer."  On  "  the  sabbath  they  added  preaching 
twice,  and  catechising  ; "  and  twice  they  "  faithfully "  kept 
"solemn  fasts."  The  passage  was  "pious  and  Christian -like," 
for  even  "  the  ship-master  and  his  religious  company  set  their 
eight  and  twelve  o'clock  watches  with  singing  a  psalm  and 
with  prayer  that  was  not  read  out  of  a  book." 

In  the  last  days  of  June,  the  band  of  two  hundred  arrived 
at  Salem.  They  found  eight  or  ten  pitiful  hovels,  one  larger 
tenement  for  the  governor,  and  a  few  cornfields,  as  the  only 
proofs  that  they  had  been  preceded  by  their  countrymen.  The 
old  and  new  planters,  without  counting  women  and  children, 
formed  a  body  of  about  three  hundred,  of  whom  the  larger 
part  were  "  godly  Christians,  helped  hither  by  Isaac  Johnson 
and  other  members  of  the  company,  to  be  employed  in  their 
work  for  a  while,  and  then  to  live  of  themselves." 

To  anticipate  the  intrusion  of  John  Oldham,  who  was 
minded  to  settle  himself  on  Boston  bay,  pretending  a  title  to 
much  land  there  by  a  grant  from  Robert  Gorges,  Endecott 
with  all  speed  sent  a  large  party,  accompanied  by  a  minister, 
to  occupy  Charlestown.  On  the  neck  of  land,  which  was  full 
of  stately  timber,  with  the  leave  of  Sagamore  John,  the  petty 
chief  who  claimed  dominion  over  it.  Graves,  the  surveyor, 
employed  some  of  the  servants  of  the  company  in  building  a 
"  great  house,"  and  modelled  and  laid  out  the  form  of  the 
town,  with  streets  about  the  hill. 


228  EN'GLISH  PEOPLE  11^   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  xni. 

To  the  European  world  the  few  tenants  of  the  huts  and 
cabins  at  Salem  were  too  insignificant  to  merit  notice;  to 
themselves,  thej  were  chosen  emissaries  of  God;  outcasts 
from  England,  jet  favorites  with  Heaven ;  destitute  of  secu- 
rity, of  convenient  food,  and  of  shelter,  and  yet  blessed  as 
instruments  selected  to  light  in  the  wilderness  the  beacon  of 
pure  religion.  They  were  not  so  much  a  body  politic  as  a 
church  in  the  wilderness,  seeking,  under  a  visible  covenant, 
to  have  fellowship  with  God,  as  a  family  of  adopted  sons. 

"  The  governor  was  moved  to  set  apart  the  twentieth  of 
July  to  be  a  solemn  day  of  humiliation,  for  the  choyce  of  a 
pastor  and  a  teacher  at  Salem."  After  prayer  and  preaching, 
*'the  persons  thought  on,"  presenting  no  claim  founded  on 
their  ordination  in  England,  acknowledged  a  twofold  calling : 
the  inward,  which  is  of  God,  who  moves  the  heart  and  be- 
stows fit  gifts;  the  outward,  which  is  from  a  company  of 
believers  joined  in  covenant,  and  allowing  to  every  member 
a  free  voice  in  the  election  of  its  officers.  The  vote  was  then 
taken  by  each  one's  writing  in  a  note  the  name  of  his  choice. 
Such  is  the  origin  of  the  use  of  the  ballot  on  this  continent ; 
in  this  manner  Skelton  was  chosen  pastor  and  Higginson 
teacher.  Three  or  four  of  the  gravest  members  of  the  church 
then  laid  their  hands  on  Skelton  with  prayer,  and  in  like  man- 
ner on  Higginson :  so  that  "  these  two  blessed  servants  of  the 
Lord  came  in  at  the  door,  and  not  at  the  window ; "  by  the 
act  of  the  congregation,  and  not  by  the  authority  of  a  prelate. 
A  day  in  August  was  appointed  for  the  election  of  ruling 
elders  and  deacons.  The  church,  like  that  of  Plymouth,  was 
self-constituted,  on  the  principle  of  the  independence  of  each 
religious  community.  It  did  not  ask  the  assent  of  the  king, 
or  recognise  him  as  its  head ;  its  officers  were  set  apart  and 
ordained  among  themselves ;  it  used  no  liturgy ;  it  rejected 
unnecessary  ceremonies,  and  reduced  the  simplicity  of  Calvin 
to  a  still  plainer  standard.  The  motives  which  controlled  its 
decisions  were  so  deeply  seated  that  its  practices  were  re- 
>^ated  spontaneously  by  Puritan  'New  England. 

There  were  a  few  at  Salem  by  whom  the  new  system  was 
disapproved;  and  in  John  and  Samuel  Browne  they  found 
able  leaders.     Both  were  members  of  the  colonial  council; 


1629.  NEW   ENGLAND'S  PLANTATION.  229 

both  were  reputed  "sincere  in  their  affection  for  the  good 
of  the  plantation ; "  they  had  been  specially  recommended  to 
Endecott  by  the  corporation  in  England ;  and  one  of  them, 
an  experienced  lawyer,  had  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
assistants.  They  refused  to  unite  with  the  public  assembly, 
and  gathered  a  company,  in  which  "  the  common  prayer  wor- 
ship "  was  upheld.  But  should  the  emigrants,  thus  the  colo- 
nists reasoned,  give  up  the  purpose  for  which  they  had  crossed 
the  Atlantic  ?  Should  the  success  of  the  colony  be  endangered 
by  a  breach  of  its  unity,  and  the  authority  of  its  government 
overthrown  by  the  confusion  of  an  ever  recurring  conflict? 
They  deemed  the  co-existence  of  their  liberty  and  of  prelacy 
impossible ;  anticipating  invasions  of  their  rights,  they  feared 
the  adherents  of  the  establishment  as  spies  in  the  camp ;  and 
the  form  of  religion  from  which  they  had  suffered  was  re- 
pelled, not  as  a  sect,  but  as  a  tyranny.  "  You  are  separatists," 
said  the  Brownes,  in  self-defence,  "  and  you  will  shortly  be 
Anabaptists."  "  We  separate,"  answered  the  ministers,  "  not 
from  the  church  of  England,  but  from  its  corruptions.  We 
came  away  from  the  common  prayer  and  ceremonies,  in  our 
native  land,  where  we  suffered  much  for  non-conformity ; 
in  this  place  of  liberty  we  cannot,  we  will  not,  use  theni^'* 
Their  imposition  would  be  a  sinful  violation  of  the  worship 
of  God."  The  supporters  of  the  liturgy  were  in  their  turn 
rebuked  as  separatists;  their  plea  was  reproved  as  sedition, 
their  worship  forbidden  as  a  mutiny ;  and  the  Brownes  were 
sent  back  to  England,  as  men  "  factious  and  evil  conditioned," 
who  could  not  be  suffered  to  remain  within  the  limits  of  the 
grant,  because  they  would  not  be  conformable  to  its  govern- 
ment. Thus  was  episcopacy  professed  in  Massachusetts,  and 
thus  was  it  exiled. 

The  Brownes,  on  their  arrival  in  England,  raised  rumors 
of  scandalous  and  intemperate  speeches  uttered  by  the  min- 
isters in  their  public  sermons  and  prayers,  and  of  rash  inno- 
vations begun  and  practiced  in  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
government.  The  returning  ships  carried  with  them  numer- 
ous letters  from  the  emigrants,  and  a  glowing  description  of 
"]*^ew  England's  Plantation"  by  Iligginson  which  was  im* 
mediately  printed  and  most  eagerly  and  widely  sought  for. 


230  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xiv. 


CHAPTER  Xiy. 

SELF-GOVERNMENT    IN   MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  concession  of  the  Massachusetts  charter  seemed  to  the 
Puritans  like  a  summons  from  Heaven,  inviting  them  to  Amer- 
ica. England,  by  her  persecutions,  proved  herself  weary  of  her 
inhabitants,  esteeming  them  more  vile  than  the  earth  on  which 
they  trod.  Habits  of  expense  degraded  men  of  moderate  for- 
tune; and  the  schools,  which  should  be  fountains  of  living 
waters,  had  become  corrupt.  What  nobler  work  than  to  plant 
a  church  without  a  blemish  where  it  might  spread  over  a  con- 
tinent ? 

jLBut  was  it  right,  a  scrupulous  conscience  demanded,  to  fly 
^jj^n  persecutions  ?  Yes,  they  answered,  for  persecutions  might 
lead  their  posterity  to  abjure  the  truth.  The  certain  misery  of 
their  wives  and  children  was  the  most  gloomy  of  their  forebod- 
ings ;  but  a  stern  sense  of  duty  hushed  the  alarms  of  affection, 
and  set  aside  all  consideration  of  physical  evils  as  the  fears  of 
too  carnal  minds.  Respect  for  the  rights  of  the  natives  offered 
an  impediment  more  easily  removed ;  much  of  the  land  from 
the  Penobscot  to  Plymouth  had  been  desolated  by  a  fatal  con- 
tagion, and  the  good  leave  of  the  surviving  tribes  might  be 
purchased.  The  ill  success  of  other  plantations  could  not  chill 
the  rising  enthusiasm ;  former  enterprises  had  aimed  at  profit, 
the  present  object  was  purity  of  religion ;  the  earlier  settle- 
ments had  been  filled  with  a  lawless  multitude,  it  was  now 
proposed  to  form  a  '^  peculiar  government,"  and  to  colonize 
"  the  best."  Such  were  the  "  Conclusions,"  which  were  pri- 
vately circulated  among  the  Puritans  of  England. 

At  a  general  court,  held  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July, 
1629,  Matthew  Cradock,  governor  of  the  company,  who  had 


1629.  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         231 

engaged  himself  beyond  all  expectation  in  the  business,  fol- 
lowing out  what  seems  to  have  been  the  early  design,  proposed 
"  the  transfer  of  the  government  of  the  plantation  to  those  that 
should  inhabit  there."  At  the  oEer  of  freedom  from  subor- 
dination to  the  company  in  England,  several  "persons  of 
worth  and  quality,"  wealthy  commoners,  zealous  Puritans, 
were  confirmed  in  the  desire  of  founding  a  new  and  a  better 
commonwealth  beyond  the  Atlantic,  even  though  it  might 
require  the  sale  of  their  estates,  and  hazard  the  inheritance  of 
their  children.  To  his  father,  who  was  the  most  earnest  of 
them  all,  the  younger  Winthrop,  then  about  four-and-twenty, 
wrote  cheeringly :  "  I  shall  call  that  my  country  where  I  may 
most  glorify  God,  and  enjoy  the  presence  of  my  dearest 
friends.  Therefore  herein  I  submit  myself  to  God's  will  and 
yours,  and  dedicate  myself  to  God  and  the  company,  with  the 
whole  endeavors  both  of  body  and  mind.  The  Conclusions  ' 
which  you  sent  down  are  unanswerable  ;  and  it  cannot  but  be 
a  prosperous  action  which  is  so  well  allowed  by  the  judg- 
ments of  God's  prophets,  undertaken  by  so  religions  and  wise 
worthies  in  Israel,  and  indented  to  God's  glory  in  so  special  a 
service."  ^m 

On  the  twenty-sixth  of  August,  at  Cambridge,  in  EnglarHfc^ 
twelve  men,  of  large  fortunes  and  liberal  culture,  among  whom 
were  John  Winthrop,  Isaac  Johnson,  Thomas  Dudley,  Hichard 
Saltonstall,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  adventure  could  grow  only 
upon  confidence  in  each  other's  fidelity  and  resolution,  bound 
themselves  in  the  presence  of  God,  by  the  word  of  a  Chris- 
tian, that  if  before  the  end  of  September  an  order  of  the 
court  should  legally  transfer  the  whole  government,  together 
with  the  patent,  they  would  themselves  pass  the  seas  to  inhabit 
and  continue  in  New  England.  Two  days  after  this  covenant 
had  been  executed,  the  subject  was  again  brought  before  the 
court ;  a  serious  and  long-continued  debate  ensued,  and  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  August  a  general  consent  appeared,  by  the 
erection  of  hands,  that  "  the  government  and  patent  should  be 
settled  in  N"ew  England." 

This  vote,  by  which  the  commercial  corporation  became 
the  germ  of  an  independent  commonwealth,  was  simply  a 
decision  of  the  question  where  the  future  meetings  of  the 


232  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  xiv. 

company  should  be  held ;  it  was  sanctioned  by  the  best  legal 
advice ;  its  lawfulness  was  at  the  time  not  questioned  by  the 
privy  council ;  at  a  later  day  was  expressly  affirmed  by  Saw- 
yer, the  attorney-general ;  and,  in  1677,  the  chief  justices  Rains- 
ford  and  E^orth  still  described  the  "charter  as  making  the 
adventurers  a  corporation  Bj^^^f^he  place."  Similar  patents 
were  granted  by  the  Long  Parliament  and  Charles  II.,  to  be 
executed  in  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut ;  and  Baltimore 
and  Penn  had  an  undisputed  right  to  reside  in  their  domains. 
The  removal  of  the  place  of  holding  the  courts  from  London 
to  the  bay  of  Massachusetts  changed  nothing  in  the  relations 
of  the  company  to  the  crown,  and  it  conferred  no  franchise  or 
authority  on  emigrants  who  were  not  members  of  the  com- 
pany; but  the  corporate  body  and  their  successors  retained 
the  chartered  right  of  making  their  own  selection  of  the  per- 
sons whom  they  would  admit  to  the  freedom  of  the  company. 
The  conditions  on  which  the  privilege  should  be  granted 
would  control  the  political  character  of  Massachusetts. 

At  a  very  full  general  court,  convened  on  the  twentieth  of 
October  for  the  choice  of  new  officers  out  of  those  who  were 
to  join  the  plantation,  John  Winthrop,  of  Groton  in  Suffolk, 
4^f  whom  "extraordinary  great  commendations  had  been  re- 
ceived both  for  his  integrity  and  sufficiency,  as  being  one  alto- 
gether well  fitted  and  accomplished  for  the  place  of  governor," 
was  by  erection  of  hands  elected  to  that  office  for  one  year 
from  that  day ;  and  with  him  were  joined  a  deputy  and  assist- 
ants, of  whom  nearly  all  proposed  to  go  over.  The  greatness 
of  the  undertaking  brought  a  necessity  for  a  supply  of  money. 
It  was  resolved  that  the  business  should  be  proceeded  in  with 
its  first  intention,  which  was  chiefly  the  glory  of  God ;  and  to 
that  purpose  its  meetings  were  sanctified  by  the  prayers  and 
guided  by  the  advice  of  Archer  and  Nye,  two  faithful  minis- 
ters in  London.  Of  the  old  stock  of  the  company,  two  thirds 
had  been  lost ;  the  remainder,  taken  at  its  true  value,  with  fresh 
sums  adventured  by  those  that  pleased,  formed  a  new  stock, 
which  was  to  be  managed  by  ten  undertakers,  five  chosen  out 
of  adventurers  remaining  in  England  and  five  out  of  the 
planters.  The  undertakers,  receiving  privileges  in  the  fur 
trade   and  in  transportation,  assumed   all   engagements   and 


1629-1630.    SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHCISETTS.         233 

charges,  and  after  seven  years  were  to  divide  the  stock  and 
profits  ;  but  their  privileges  were  not  asserted,  and  nine  tenths 
of  the  capital  were  sunk  in  the  expenses  of  the  first  year. 
There  was  nothing  to  show  for  the  adventure  but  the  common- 
wealth which  it  helped  to  found.  Of  ships  for  transporting 
passengers,  Cradock  furnished  two.  The  large  ship,  the 
Eagle,  purchased  by  members  of  the  company,  took  the  name 
of  Arbella,  from  a  sister  of  the  earl  of  Lincoln,  wife  to  Isaac 
Johnson,  who  was  to  sail  in  it.  The  corporation,  which  had 
not  many  more  than  one  hundred  and  ten  members,  could  not 
meet  the  continual  Qiitlays  for  colonization ;  another  common 
stock  was  therefore  raised  from  such  as  bore  good  affection  to 
the  plantation,  to  defray  public  charges,  such  as  maintenance 
of  ministers,  transportation  of  poor  families,  building  of 
churches  and  fortifications.  To  the  various  classes  of  con- 
tributors and  emigrants,  frugal  grants  of  land  promised  some 
indemnity.  In  this  manner,  by  the  enterprise  of  the  ten  un- 
dertakers and  other  members  of  the  company,  especially  of 
those  who  were  ship-owners,  by  the  contributions  of  Puritans 
in  England,  but  mainly  by  the  resources  of  the  emigrants 
themselves,  there  were  employed,  during  the  season  of  1630, 
seventeen  vessels,  which  brought  over  not  far  from  a  thousand 
souls,  besides  horses,  kine,  goats,  and  all  that  was  most  neces- 
sary for  planting,  fishing,  and  ship-building. 

As  the  hour  of  departure  drew  near,  the  hearts  of  some 
even  of  the  strong  began  to  fail.  On  the  eighteenth  of  March, 
1630,  it  became  necessary  at  Southampton  to  elect  three  sub- 
stitutes among  the  assistants ;  and,  of  these  three,  one  never 
came  over.  Even  after  they  had  embarked,  a  court  was  held 
on  board  the  Arbella,  and  Thomas  Dudley  was  chosen  deputy 
governor  in  the  place  of  Humphrey,  who  stayed  behind.  It 
was  principally  the  calm  decision  of  Winthrop  which  sustained 
the  courage  of  his  companions.  In  him  a  yielding  gentleness 
of  temper  and  a  never  failing  desire  for  unity  and  harmony 
were  secured  against  weakness  by  deep  but  tranquil  enthusiasm. 
His  nature  was  touched  by  the  sweetest  sympathies  of  affection 
for  wife,  children,  and  associates ;  cheerful  in  serving  others 
and  suffering  with  them,  liberal  without  reluctance,  helpful 
without  reproaching,  in  him  God  so  exercised  his  grace  that 

VOL.  I. — 17 


234  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xiv. 

he  discerned  his  own  image  and  resemblance  in  his  fellow-man, 
and  cared  for  his  neighbor  like  himself.  He  was  of  a  sociable 
nature ;  so  that  "  to  love  and  be  beloved  was  his  soul's  para- 
dise," and  works  of  mercy  were  the  habit  of  his  life.  Parting 
from  affluence  in  England,  he  unrepiningly  went  to  meet  im- 
poverishment and  premature  age  for  the  welfare  of  Massachu- 
setts. His  lenient  benevolence  tempered  the  bigotry  of  his 
companions,  without  impairing  their  resoluteness.  An  honest 
royalist,  averse  to  pure  democracy,  yet  firm  in  his  regard  for 
existing  popular  liberties ;  in  his  native  parish,  a  conformist, 
yet  wishing  for  "  gospel  purity ; "  in  America,  mildly  aristo- 
cratic, advocating  a  government  of  "  the  least  part,"  yet  desir- 
ing that  part  to  be  "  the  wiser  of  the  best ; "  disinterested, 
brave,  and  conscientious — his  character  marks  the  transition  of 
the  reformation  into  virtual  republicanism.  The  sentiment 
of  loyalty,  which  it  was  still  intended  to  cherish,  gradually 
yielded  to  the  unobstructed  spirit  of  civil  freedom. 

England  rung  from  side  to  side  with  the  "  general  rumor 
of  this  solemn  enterprise."  On  leaving  the  isle  of  Wight, 
Winthrop  and  the  chief  of  his  fellow-passengers  on  board  the 
Arbella,  including  the  ministers,  bade  an  affectionate  farewell 
"  to  the  rest  of  their  brethren  in  and  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land." "  Reverend  fathers  and  brethren,"  such  was  their  ad- 
dress to  them,  **'  howsoever  your  charitie  may  have  met  with 
discouragement  through  the  misreport  of  our  intentions,  or 
the  indiscretion  of  some  amongst  us,  yet  we  desire  you  would 
be  pleased  to  take  notice  that  the  principals  and  body  of  our 
company  esteem  it  our  honor  to  call  the  church  of  England, 
from  whence  wee  rise,  our  deare  mother,  and  cannot  part 
from  our  native  countrie,  where  she  specially  resideth,  without 
much  sadnes  of  heart  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes ;  blessing 
God  for  the  parentage  and  education,  as  members  of  the  same 
body,  and,  while  we  have  breath,  we  shall  syncerely  indeavour 
the  continuance  and  abundance  of  her  welfare. 

"  Be  pleased,  therefore,  reverend  fathers  and  brethren,  to 
helpe  forward  this  worke  now  in  hand ;  which,  if  it  prosper, 
you  shall  bee  the  more  glorious.  It  is  a  usuall  exercise  of  your 
charity  to  recommend  to  the  prayers  of  your  congregations  the 
straights  of  your  neighbours :  do  the  like  for  a  church  spring- 


1630.  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         235 

ing  out  of  your  owne  bowels ;  pray  without  ceasing  for  us,  who 
are  a  weake  colony  from  yourselves. 

"  What  we  intreat  of  you  that  are  ministers  of  God,  that 
we  crave  at  the  hands  of  all  the  rest  of  our  brethren,  that  they 
would  at  no  time  forget  us  in  their  private  solicitations  at  the 
Throne  of  Grace.  If  any,  through  want  of  cleare  intelligence 
of  our  course,  or  tenderness  of  affection  towards  us,  cannot 
conceive  so  well  of  our  way  as  we  could  desire,  we  would  in- 
treat such  not  to  desert  us  in  their  prayers,  and  to  express 
their  compassion  towards  us. 

"  What  goodness  you  shall  extend  to  us,  wee,  your  brethren 
in  Christ  Jesus,  shall  labour  to  repay ;  wishing  our  heads  and 
hearts  may  be  as  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting  wel- 
fare, when  wee  shall  be  in  our  poore  cottages  in  the  wilder- 
nesse,  overshadowed  with  the  spirit  of  supplication,  through 
the  manifold  necessities  and  tribulations  which  may  not  alto- 
gether unexpectedly,  nor,  we  hope,  unprofitably  befall  us." 

About  seven  hundred  persons  or  more — most  of  them  Puri- 
tans, inclining  to  the  principles  of  the  Independents  ;  not  con- 
formists, but  not  separatists ;  many  of  them  men  of  high  en- 
dowments and  large  fortune ;  scholars,  well  versed  in  the 
learning  of  the  times ;  clergymen,  who  ranked  among  the  best 
educated  and  most  pious  in  the  realm — gmbarkedjwith  Win- 
thrflyuiiUfileven  ships,  bearing  with  them  the  charter  which 
was^to  be  thp.  warraTit  of  t.hpir  lihftrt.ipfi  The  land  was  to  be 
planted  with  a  noble  vine,  wholly  of  the  right  seed.  The 
principal  emigrants  were  a  community  of  believers,  professing 
'themselves  to  be  fellow- members  of  Christ;  not  a  school  of 
philosophers,  proclaiming  universal  toleration  and  inviting 
associates  without  regard  to  creed.  They  desired  to  be  bound 
together  in  a  most  intimate  and  equal  intercourse,  for  one  and 
the  same  great  end.  They  knew  that  they  would  be  as  a  city 
set  upon  a  hill,  and  that  the  eyes  of  all  people  were  upon  them. 
Reverence  for  their  faith  led  them  to  pass  over  the  vast  seas 
to  the  good  land  of  which  they  had  purchased  the  exclusive 
possession,  with  a  charter  of  which  they  had  acquired  the  en- 
tire control,  for  the  sake  of  reducing  to  practice  the  system  of 
religion  and  the  forms  of  civil  liberty  which  they  cherished 
more  than  life  itself.    They  constituted  a  corporation  to  which 


236  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    pabt  i.  ;  oh.  xiv. 

thej  themselves  might  establish  the  terms  of  admission.  They 
kept  firmly  in  their  own  hands  the  key  to  their  asylum,  and 
were  resolved  on  closing  its  doors  against  the  enemies  of  its 
unity,  its  safety,  and  its  peace. 

"  The  worke  wee  have  in  hand,"  these  are  Winthrop's 
words  on  board  the  Arbella  during  the  passage,  "  is  by  a  mu- 
tuall  consent,  through  a  speciall  overruling  Providence,  and  a 
more  than  ordinary  approbation  of  the  churches  of  Christ,  to 
seeke  out  a  place  of  cohabitation  and  consorteshipp  under  a 
due  forme  of  government  both  civill  and  ecclesiastical.  For 
this  wee  are  entered  into  covenant  with  God ;  for  this  wee 
must  be  knitt  together  as  one  man,  allways  having  before  our 
eyes  our  commission  as  members  of  the  same  body.  Soe  shall 
wee  keepe  the  unitie  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  The 
Lord  will  be  our  God,  and  delight  to  dwell  among  us,  as  his 
owne  people ;  wee  shall  see  much  more  of  his  wisdome,  power, 
goodness,  and  truthe,  than  formerly  wee  have  been  acquainted 
with ;  hee  shall  make  us  a  prayse  and  glory,  that  men  shall 
say  of  succeeding  plantations,  '  The  Lord  make  it  likely  that 
of  :N'ew  England.' " 

After  sixty-one  days  at  sea,  the  Arbella  came  in  sight  of 
Mount  Desert ;  on  the  tenth  of  June,  the  White  Hills  were 
descried  afar  off;  near  the  isle  of  Shoals  and  Cape  Ann  the 
sea  was  enlivened  by  the  shallops  of  fishermen ;  and  on  the 
twelfth,  as  the  ship  came  to  anchor  outside  of  Salem  harbor,  it 
was  visited  by  William  Peirce,  of  the  Lyon,  whose  frequent 
voyages  had  given  him  experience  as  a  pilot  on  the  coast. 
Winthrop  and  his  companions  came  full  of  hope ;  they  found 
the  colony  in  an  "  unexpected  condition  "  of  distress.  Above 
eighty  had  died  the  winter  before.  Higginson  himself  was  ' 
wasting  under  a  hectic  fever;  many  others  were  weak  and 
sick ;  all  the  corn  and  bread  among  them  was  hardly  a  fit  sup- 
ply for  a  fortnight.  The  survivors  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
servants,  who  had  been  sent  over  in  the  two  years  before  at  a 
great  expense,  instead  of  having  prepared  a  welcome,  thronged 
to  the  new-comers  to  be  fed ;  and  were  set  free  from  all  en- 
gagements, for  their  labor,  urgent  as  was  the  demand  for  it, 
was  worth  less  than  the  cost  of  their  support.  Famine  threat- 
ened to  seize  the  emigrants  as  they  stepped  on  shore ;  and  it 


1630.  SELP-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         237 

soon  appeared  necessary  for  them,  even  at  a  ruinous  expense, 
to  send  the  Lyon  to  Bristol  for  food. 

To  seek  out  a  place  for  their  plantation,  since  Salem  pleased 
them  not,  Winthrop,  on  the  seventeenth  of  June,  sailed  into 
Boston  harbor.  The  west  country  men,  who,  before  leaving 
England,  had  organized  their  church  with  Maverick  and  War- 
ham  for  ministers,  and  who  in  a  few  years  were  to  take  part 
in  calling  into  being  the  commonwealth  of  Connecticut,  were 
found  at  !N"antasket,  where  they  had  landed  just  before  the  end 
of  May.  Winthrop  ascended  the  Mystic  a  few  miles,  and  on 
the  nineteenth  took  back  to  Salem  a  favorable  report  of  the 
land  on  its  banks.  Dudley  and  others,  who  followed,  preferred 
the  country  on  the  Charles  river  at  Watertown.  By  common 
consent,  early  in  the  next  month  the  removal  was  made,  with 
much  cost  and  labor,  from  Salem  to  Charlestown.  j  But,  while 
drooping  with  toil  and  sorrow,  fevers  consequent  on  the  long 
voyage,  and  the  want  of  proper  food  and  shelter,  twelve  ships 
having  arrived,  the  colonists  kept  the  eighth  of  July  as  a  day 
of  thanksgiving.  The  emigrants  had  intended  to  dwell  to- 
gether, but  in  their  distress  they  planted  where  each  was  in- 
clined. A  few  remained  at  Salem ;  others  halted  at  the  Sau- 
gus,  and  founded  Lynn.  The  governor  was  for  the  time  at 
Charlestown,  where  the  poor  "  lay  up  and  down  in  tents  and 
booths  round  the  hill."  On  the  other  side  of  the  river  the 
little  peninsula,  scarce  two  miles  long  by  one  broad,  marked 
by  three  hills,  and  blessed  with  sweet  and  pleasant  springs, 
safe  pastures,  and  land  that  promised  "rich  cornfields  and 
fruitful  gardens,"  attracted,  among  others,  William  Codding- 
ton,  of  Boston  in  England,  who,  in  friendly  relations  with  Wil- 
liam Blackstone,  built  the  first  good  house  there,  before  it  took 
the  name  which  was  to  grow  famous  throughout  the  world. 
Some  planted  on  the  Mystic,  in  what  is  now  Maiden.  Others, 
with  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  and  George  Phillips,  "a  godly 
minister  specially  gifted,  and  very  peaceful  in  his  place,"  made 
their  abode  at  Watertown ;  Pynchon  and  a  few  began  Rox- 
bury ;  Ludlow  and  Rossi ter,  two  of  the  assistants,  with  the 
men  from  the  west  of  England,  after  wavering  in  their  choice, 
took  possession  of  Dorchester  Keck,  now  South  Boston.  The 
dispersion  of  the  company  was  esteemed  a  grievance ;  but  it 


238  EIS-GLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xiv. 

was  no  time  for  crimination  or  r^ebate,  and  those  who  had 
health  made  haste  to  build.  Winthrop  himself,  "  givinge  good 
example  to  all  the  planters,  wore  plaine  apparell,  drank  ordi- 
narily water,  and,  when  he  was  not  conversant  about  matters 
of  justice,  put  his  hand  to  labor  with  his  servants." 

On  Friday,  the  thirtieth  of  July,  a  fast  was  held  at  Charles- 
town  ;  and,  after  prayers  and  preaching,  Winthrop,  Dudley, 
Isaac  Johnson,  and  Wilson  united  themselves  by  covenant  into 
one  "  congregation,"  as  a  part  of  the  visible  church  militant. 
On  the  next  Lord's  Day  others  were  received ;  and  the  mem- 
bers of  this  body  could  alone  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
or  present  their  children  for  baptism.  They  were  all  brothers 
and  equals  ;  they  revered,  each  in  himself,  the  dignity  of  God's 
image,  and  nursed  a  generous  reverence  for  one  another; 
bound  to  a  healing  superintendence  over  each  other's  lives, 
they  exercised  no  discipline  to  remove  evil  out  of  the  inmost 
soul,  except  the  censure  of  the  assembly  of  the  faithful,  whom 
it  would  have  been  held  grievous  to  offend.  This  church,  the 
seminal  centre  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  Massachusetts, 
was  gathered  while  Higginson  was  yet  alive ;  on  the  sixth  of 
August  he  gave  up  the  ghost  with  joy,  for  the  future  gi*eatness 
of  'N&w  England  and  the  coming  glories  of  its  many  churches 
floated  in  cheerful  visions  before  his  eyes.  When,  on  the^^ 
twenty-third  of  August,  the  first  court  of  assistants  on  this  side 
the  water  was  held  at  Charlestown,  how  the  ministers  should 
be  maintained  took  precedence  of  all  other  business ;  and  it 
was  ordered  that  houses  should  be  built  for  them,  and  support 
provided  at  the  common  charge.  Four  days  later  the  men 
"  of  the  congregation  "  kept  a  fast,  and,  after  their  own  free 
choice  of  John  Wilson  for  their  pastor,  they  themselves  set 
him  apart  to  his  office  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  yet  without 
his  renouncing  his  ministry  received  in  England.  In  like 
manner  the  ruling  elder  and  deacons  were  chosen  and  in- 
stalled. Thus  was  constituted  the  body  which,  crossing  the 
Charles  river,  became  known  as  the  First  Church  of  Boston. 
It  embodied  the  three  great. principles  of  Congregationalism; 
a  right  faith  attended  by  a  true  religious  experience  as  the 
requisite  qualifications  for  membership ;  the  equality  of  all 
believers,  including  the  officers  of  the  church ;  the  equality  of 


1630.  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         239 

the  several  churches,  free  from  the  jurisdiction  of  ecclesiastical 
court  or  bishop,  free  from  the  jurisdiction  of  one  church  over 
another,  free  from  the  collective  authority  of  them  all. 

The  civil  government  was  exercised  with  mildness  and  im- 
partiality, yet  with  determined  vigor.  Justices  of  the  peace 
were  commissioned  with  the  powers  of  those  in  England. 
On  the  seventh  of  September,  names  were  given  to  Dorches- 
ter, Watertown,  and  Boston,  which  thus  began  their  career  as 
towns  under  sanction  of  law.  Quotas  were  settled  and  money 
levied.  The  interloper  who  dared  to  *^ confront"  the  public 
authority  was  sent  to  England,  or  enjoined  to  depart  out  of 
the  limits  of  the  patent. 

As  the  year  for  which  Winthrop  and  his  assistants  had 
been  chosen  was  coming  to  an  end,  on  the  nineteenth  of  Octo- 
ber, 1630,  a  general  court,  the  first  in  America,  was  held  at 
Boston.  Of  members  of  the  company,  less  than  twenty  had 
come  over.  One  hundred  and  eight  inhabitants,  some  of 
whom  were  old  planters,  were  now,  at  their  desire,  admitted 
to  be  freemen.  The  former  officers  of  government  were  con- 
tinued ;  as  a  rule  for  the  future,  "  it  was  propounded  to  the 
people,  and  assented  unto  by  the  erection  of  hands,  that  the 
freemen  should  have  power  to  choose  assistants,  when  any 
were  to  be  chosen,  the  assistants  to  choose  from  among  them- 
selves the  governor  and  his  deputy."  The  rule  implied  a 
purpose  to  retain  continuously  in  the  board  any  person  once 
elected  magistrate,  and  revealed  a  natural  anxiety  respecting 
the  effect  of  the  large  creation  of  freemen  which  had  just 
been  made,  and  by  which  the  old  members  of  the  company 
had  abdicated  their  controlling  power  in  the  court ;  but,  as  it 
was  in  conflict  with  the  charter,  it  could  have  no  permanence. 

During  these  events,  the  emigrants,  miserably  lodged,  be- 
held their  friends  "  weekly,  yea,  almost  daily,  drop  away  before 
their  eyes ; "  in  a  country  abounding  in  secret  fountains,  they 
pined  for  the  want  of  good  water.  Many  of  them  had  been 
accustomed  to  plenty  and  ease,  the  refinements  and  the  con- 
veniences of  luxury.  Woman  was  there  to  struggle  against 
unforeseen  hardships,  unimagined  sorrows ;  the  men,  who 
defied  trials  for  themselves,  were  miserable  at  beholding  those 
whom  they  cherished  dismayed  by  the  horrors  which  encom- 


240  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  on.  xiv. 

passed  them.  The  virtues  of  the  lady  Arbella  Johnson  could 
not  break  through  the  gloom;  she  had  been  ill  before  her 
arrival,  and  grief  hurried  her  to  the  grave.  Her  husband,  a 
wise  and  holy  man,  in  life  "  the  greatest  f urtherer  of  the  plan- 
tation," and  by  his  bequests  a  large  benefactor  of  the  infant 
state,  sank  under  disease  and  afflictions ;  but  "  he  died  will- 
ingly and  in  sweet  peace,"  making  a  '*most  godly  end." 
Winthrop  lost  a  son,  who  left  a  widow  and  children  in  Eng- 
land. A  hundred  or  more,  some  of  them  of  the  board  of 
assistants,  men  who  had  been  trusted  as  the  inseparable  com- 
panions of  the  common  misery  or  the  common  success,  dis- 
heartened by  the  scenes  of  woe,  and  dreading  famine  and 
death,  deserted  Massachusetts,  and  sailed  for  England,  while 
Winthrop  remained,  "  parent-like,  to  distribute  his  goods  to 
brethren  and  neighbors."  Before  December,  two  hundred,  at 
the  least,  had  died.  Yet,  as  the  brightest  lightnings  are  kin- 
dled in  the  darkest  clouds,  the  general  distress  did  but  aug- 
ment the  piety  and  confirm  the  fortitude  of  the  colonists. 
Their  earnestness  was  softened  by  the  mildest  sympathy  with 
one  another,  while  trust  in  Providence  kept  guard  against 
despair.  Not  a  trace  of  repining  appears  in  their  records  ;  the 
congregations  always  assembled  at  the  stated  times,  whether 
in  the  open  fields  or  under  the  shade  of  an  ancient  oak ;  in 
the  midst  of  want,  they  abounded  in  hope  ;  in  the  solitudes  of 
the  wilderness,  they  believed  themselves  watched  over  by  an 
omnipresent  Father.  Honor  is  due  not  less  to  those  who  per- 
ished than  to  those  who  survived  ;  to  the  martyrs,  the  hour  of 
death  was  an  hour  of  triumph.  For  that  placid  resignation, 
which  diffuses  grace  round  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  makes 
death  too  serene  for  sorrow  and  too  beautiful  for  fear,  no  one 
was  more  remarkable  than  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Sharpe, 
whose  youth  and  sex  and  unequalled  virtues  won  the  eulogies 
of  the  austere  Dudley.  Even  children  caught  the  spirit  of 
the  place,  and,  in  tranquil  faith,  went  to  the  grave  full  of  im- 
mortality. The  survivors  bore  all  things  meekly,  "  remember- 
ing the  end  of  their  coming  hither."  "We  here  enjoy  God 
and  Jesus  Christ,"  wrote  Winthrop  to  his  wife,  whom  preg- 
nancy had  detained  in  England,  "  and  is  not  this  enough  ?  I 
thank  God  I  like  so  well  to  be  here,  as  I  do  not  repent  my 


1630-1631.    SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         241 

coming.  I  would  not  have  altered  my  course,  though  I  had 
foreseen  all  these  afflictions.  I  never  had  more  content  of  mind." 

The  supply  of  bread  was  nearly  exhausted,  when,  on  the 
fifth  of  February,  1631,  after  a  long  and  stormy  passage,  the 
timely  arrival  of  the  Lyon  from  Bristol,  laden  with  pro- 
visions, caused  public  thanksgiving  through  all  the  planta- 
tions. Yet  the  ship  brought  but  twenty  passengers,  and 
quenched  all  hope  of  immediate  accessions.  In  1631,  ninety 
only  came  over,  fewer  than  had  gone  back  the  preceding  year ; 
in  1632,  no  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  arrived.  Men 
waited  to  learn  the  success  of  the  early  adventurers.  Those 
who  had  deserted  excused  their  cowardice  by  defaming  the 
country;  and,  moreover,  ill-willers  to  'New  England  were 
already  railing  against  its  people  as  separatists  from  the  estab- 
lished church  and  traitors  to  the  king. 

The  colony,  now  counting  not  many  more  than  one  thou- 
sand souls,  while  it  developed  its  principles  with  unflinching 
courage,  desired  to  avoid  giving  scandal  to  the  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical government  in  England.  Wilson  was  on  the  point  of 
returning  to  bring  over  his  wife  ;  his  church  stood  in  special 
need  of  a  teacher  in  his  absence,  and  a  young  minister,  "  lovely 
in  his  carriage,"  "  godly  and  zealous,  having  precious  gifts," 
opportunely  arrived  in  the  Lyon.  It  was  Koger  Williams. 
"  From  his  childhood,  the  Father  of  lights  and  mercies  touched 
his  soul  with  a  love  to  himself,  to  his  only -begotten  Son,  the 
true  Lord  Jesus,  and  his  holy  scriptures."  In  the  forming 
period  of  his  life  he  had  been  employed  by  Sir  Edward  Coke, 
and  his  natural  inclination  to  study  and  activity  was  spurred 
on  by  the  instruction  and  encouragement  of  the  statesman, 
who  was  then,  "  in  his  intrepid  and  patriotic  old  age,  the  stren- 
uous asserter  of  liberty  on  the  principles  of  ancient  laws,"  and, 
by  his  writings,  speeches,  and  example,  lighted  the  zealous 
enthusiast  on  his  way.  Through  the  affection  of  the  great 
lawyer,  who  called  him  endearingly  his  son,  "  the  youth,"  in 
whom  all  saw  good  hope,  was  sent  to  the  Charter  House  in 
1621,  and  passed  with  honor  from  that  school  to  Pembroke 
College,  in  Cambridge,  where  he  took  a  degree ;  but  his  clear 
mind  went  far  beyond  his  patron  in  his  persuasions  against 
bishops,  ceremonies,  and  the  national  church. 


242  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEKICA.    pabt  i.  ;  ch.  xiv. 

Pursued  bj  Laud  out  of  his  native  land,  he  had  revolved 
the  nature  of  intolerance,  and  had  arrived  at  its  only  effectual 
remedy,  the  sanctity  of  conscience.  In  soul  matters,  he  would 
have  no  weapons  but  soul  weapons.  The  civil  magistrate 
should  restrain  crime,  but  never  control  opinion  ;  should  pun- 
ish guilt,  but  never  violate  inward  freedom.  The  principle 
contained  within  itself  an  entire  reformation  of  theological 
jurisprudence  :  it  would  blot  from  the  statute-book  the  felony 
of  non-conformity;  would  quench  the  fires  that  persecution 
had  so  long  kept  burning  ;  would  repeal  every  law  compelling 
attendance  on  public  worship ;  would  abolish  tithes  and  all 
forced  contributions  to  the  maintenance  of  religion ;  would 
give  an  equal  protection  to  every  form  of  religious  faith ;  and 
never  suffer  the  force  of  the  government  to  be  employed 
against  the  dissenters'  meeting-house,  the  Jewish  synagogue, 
or  the  Roman  cathedral.  In  the  unwavering  assertion  of  his 
views,  he  never  changed  his  position;  the  sanctity  of  con- 
science was  the  great  tenet  which,  with  all  its  consequences, 
he  defended,  as  he  first  trod  the  shores  of  New  England ;  and, 
in  his  extreme  old  age,  it  was  still  the  desire  of  his  heart.  The 
doctrine  was  a  logical  consequence  of  either  of  the  two  great 
distinguishing  principles  of  the  reformation,  as  well  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  alone  as  of  the  equality  of  all  believers ;  and 
it  was  sure  to  be  one  day  accepted  by  the  whole  Protestant 
world.  But  it  placed  the  emigrant  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
system  of  the  founders  of  Massachusetts,  who  were  bent  on 
making  the  state  a  united  body  of  believers. 

On  landing  in  Boston,  Koger  WilKams  found  himself  un- 
able to  join  with  its  church  members.  He  had  separated  from 
the  establishment  in  England,  which  wronged  conscience  by 
disregarding  its  scruples  ;  they  were  "  an  unseparated  people," 
who  refused  to  renounce  communion  with  their  persecutors ; 
he  would  not  suffer  the  magistrate  to  assume  jurisdiction  over 
the  soul  by  punishing  what  was  no  more  than  a  breach  of  the 
first  table,  an  error  of  conscience  or  belief ;  they  were  willing 
to  put  the  whole  decalogue  under  the  guardianship  of  the  civil 
authority.  The  thought  of  employing  him  as  a  minister  was 
therefore  abandoned,  and  the  church  of  Boston  was,  in  Wil- 
son's absence,  commended  to  "  the  exercise  of  prophecy." 


1631-1632.    SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         243 

The  death  of  Higginson  had  left  Salem  in  want  of  a 
teacher,  and  in  April  it  called  Williams  to  that  office.  Win- 
throp  and  the  assistants  "  marvelled  "  at  the  precipitate  choice  ; 
and,  by  a  letter  to  Endeqott,  they  desired  the  church  to  for- 
bear. The  warning  was  heeded,  and  Koger  Williams  with- 
drew to  Plymouth. 

The  government  was  still  more  careful  to  protect  the  privi- 
leges of  the  colony  from  "  episcopal  and  malignant  practices," 
against  which  they  had  been  cautioned  from  England.  For 
that  purpose,  at  the  general  court  convened  in  May  after 
"  the  corn  was  set,"  an  oath  of  fidelity  was  offered  to  the  free- 
men, binding  them  "  to  be  obedient  and  conformable  to  the 
laws  and  constitutions  of  this  commonwealth,  to  advance  its 
peace,  and  not  to  suffer  any  attempt  at  making  any  change 
or  alteration  of  the  government  contrary  to  its  laws."  One 
hundred  and  eighteen  of  "  the  commonalty  "  took  this  oath ; 
the  few  who  refused  were  never  "  betrusted  with  any  public 
charge  or  command."  The  old  officers  were  again  continued 
in  office  without  change,  but  "  the  commons  "  asserted  their 
right  of  annually  adding  or  removing  members  from  the  bench 
of  magistrates.  And  a  law  of  still  greater  moment,  pregnant 
with  evil  and  with  good,  at  the  same  time  narrowed  the  elec- 
tive franchise  :  "  To  the  end  this  body  of  the  commons  may  be 
preserved  of  honest  and  good  men,  it  was  ordered  and  agreed 
that,  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted  to  the 
freedom  of  this  body  politic  but  such  as  are  members  of  some 
of  the  churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same."  Thus  the 
polity  became  a  theocracy;  God  himself  was  to  govern  his 
people;  and  the  "saints  by  calling,"  whose  names  an  immu- 
table decree  had  registered  from  eternity  as  the  objects  of 
divine  love,  whose  election  had  been  visibly  manifested  by 
their  conscious  experience  of  religion  in  the  heart,  whose 
union  was  confirmed  by  the  most  solemn  compact  formed 
with  Heaven  and  one  another  around  the  memorials  of  a  cru- 
cified Redeemer,  were,  by  the  fundamental  law  of  the  colony, 
constituted  the  oracle  of  the  divine  will.  An  aristocracy  was 
founded  ;  not  of  wealth,  but  of  those  who  had  been  ransomed 
at  too  high  a  price  to  be  ruled  by  polluting  passions,  and  had 
received  the  seal  of  divinity  in  proof  of  their  fitness  to  do 


244  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,     part  i.;  ch.  xiv. 

"  the  noblest  and  godliest  deeds."  Other  states  have  confined 
political  rights  to  the  opulent,  to  freeholders,  to  the  first-born  ; 
the  Calvinists  of  Massachusetts,  refusing  any  share  of  civil 
power  to  the  clergy,  established  the  reign  of  the  visible  church, 
a  commonwealth  of  the  chosen  people  in  covenant  with  God. 

The  dangers  apprehended  from  England  seemed  to  require 
a  union  consecrated  by  the  holiest  rites.  The  public  mind  of 
the  colony  was  in  other  respects  ripening  for  democratic  lib- 
erty. It  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  leaving  the  assistants 
in  possession  of  all  authority,  and  of  an  almost  independent 
existence ;  and  the  magistrates,  with  the  exception  of  the  pas- 
sionate Ludlow,  were  willing  to  yield.  It  was  therefore 
agreed,  at  the  next  general  court,  that  the  governor  and  assist- 
ants should  be  annually  chosen.  The  people,  satisfied  with 
the  recognition  of  their  right,  re-elected  their  former  magis- 
trates with  silence  and  modesty.  The  germ  of  a  representa- 
tive government  was  already  visible ;  each  town  was  ordered 
to  choose  two  men,  to  appear  at  the  next  court  of  assistants, 
and  concert  a  plan  for  a  public  treasury.  The  measure  had 
become  necessary,  for  a  levy,  made  by  the  assistants  alone, 
had  awakened  alarm  and  opposition. 

While  a  happy  destiny  was  thus  preparing  for  Massachu- 
setts a  representative  government,  relations  with  the  natives 
were  extended.  In  April,  1631,  there  came  from  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut  the  sagamore  of  the  Mohegans,  to  extol  the 
fertility  of  his  country,  and  solicit  an  English  plantation  as  a 
bulwark  against  the  Pequods ;  in  May,  the  nearer  Nipmucks 
invoked  the  aid  of  the  emigrants  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
Mohawks;  and  in  July,  the  son  of  the  aged  Canonicus  ex- 
changed presents  with  the  governor. 

In  August,  1632,  Miantonomoh  himself,  the  great  warrior 
of  the  Narragansetts,  the  youthful  colleague  of  Canonicus, 
became  a  guest  at  the  board  of  Winthrop,  and  was  present 
with  the  congregation  at  a  sermon  from  Wilson. 

To  perfect  friendship  with  the  pilgrims,  the  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  with  Wilson,  pastor  of  Boston,  near  the  end  of 
October,  1632,  repaired  to  Plymouth.  From  the  south  shore 
of  Boston  harbor  it  was  a  day's  journey,  for  they  travelled  on 
foot.     In  honor  of  the  great  event,  Bradford  and  Brewster, 


1632-1634.    SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         245 

the  governor  and  elder  of  the  old  colony,  came  forth  to  meet 
them  and  conduct  them  to  the  town,  where  they  were  kindly 
entertained  and  feasted.  "  On  the  Lord's  Day  they  did  par- 
take of  the  sacrament ; "  in  the  afternoon,  a  question  was  pro- 
pounded for  discussion  ;  the  pastor  spoke  briefly  ;  the  teacher 
prophesied  ;  the  governor  of  Plymouth,  the  elder,  and  others 
of  the  congregation  took  part  in  the  conference,  which,  by  ex- 
press desire,  was  closed  by  the  guests  from  Boston.  Thus  was 
fellowship  confirmed  with  Plymouth.  From  the  Chesapeake 
a  rich  freight  of  corn  had  been  received,  and  trade  was  begun 
with  the  Dutch  at  Hudson  river. 

These  better  auspices  and  the  invitations  of  Winthrop 
won  new  emigrants  from  Europe.  In  1633,  during  the  long 
summer  voyage  of  the  two  hundred  passengers  who  freighted 
the  Griffin,  three  sermons  a  day  beguiled  their  weariness. 
Among  them  was  Haynes,  a  man  of  very  large  estate,  and 
larger  affections ;  of  a  "  heavenly "  mind  and  a  spotless  life ; 
of  rare  sagacity  and  accurate  but  unassuming  judgment ;  by 
nature  tolerant,  ever  a  friend  to  freedom,  ever  conciliating 
peace ;  an  able  legislator ;  dear  to  the  people  by  his  benevolent 
virtues  and  his  disinterested  conduct.  Then  also  came  the 
most  revered  spiritual  teachers  of  two  commonwealths:  the 
acute  and  subtile  John  Cotton,  the  son  of  a  Puritan  lawyer ; 
eminent  at  Cambridge  as  a  scholar ;  quick  in  the  nice  percep- 
tion of  distinctions,  and  pliant  in  dialectics ;  in  manner  per- 
suasive rather  than  commanding ;  skilled  in  the  fathers  and 
the  schoolmen,  but  finding  all  their  wisdom  compactly  stored 
in  Calvin  ;  deeply  devout  by  nature  as  well  as  habit  from  child- 
hood ;  hating  heresy  and  still  precipitately  eager  to  prevent 
evil  actions  by  suppressing  ill  opinions,  yet  verging  toward  a 
progress  in  truth  and  in  religious  freedom  ;  an  avowed  enemy 
to  democracy,  which  he  feared  as  the  blind  despotism  of  ani- 
mal instincts  in  the  multitude,  yet  opposing  hereditary  power  in 
all  its  forms  ;  desiring  a  government  of  moral  opinion,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  universal  equity,  and  claiming  "  the  ulti- 
mate resolution  for  the  whole  body  of  the  people  ; "  and 
Thomas  Hooker,  of  vast  endowments,  a  strong  will,  and  an 
energetic  mind  ;  ingenuous  in  his  temper,  and  open  in  his  pro- 
fessions ;  trained  to  benevolence  by  the  discipline  of  affliction  ; 


m 


246  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.;  ch.  xrv. 

versed  in  tolerance  by  his  refuge  in  Holland ;  choleric,  yet 
gentle  in  his  affections ;  firm  in  his  faith,  yet  readily  yielding 
to  the  power  of  reason  ;  the  peer  of  the  reformers  without 
their  harshness ;  the  devoted  apostle  to  the  humble  and  the 
poor,  severe  toward  the  proud,  mild  in  his  soothings  of  a 
wounded  spirit,  glowing  with  the  raptures  of  devotion,  and 
kindling  with  the  messages  of  redeeming  love ;  his  eye,  voice, 
gesture,  and  whole  frame  animate  with  the  living  vigor  of 
heart-felt  religion ;  public-spirited  and  lavishly  charitable ; 
and,  "  though  persecutions  and  banishments  had  awaited  him 
as  one  wave  follows  another,"  ever  serenely  blessed  with  "  a 
glorious  peace  of  soul ; "  fixed  in  his  trust  in  Providence,  and 
in  his  adhesion  to  that  cause  of  advancing  civilization,  which 
^P^e  cherished  always,  even  while  it  remained  to  him  a  mystery, 
iljfi^lll  is  he  whom,  for  his  abilities  and  services,  his  contem- 
^^^H-ies  placed  "  in  the  first  rank  "  of  men  ;  praising  him  as 
^ffj^xhe  one  rich  pearl,  with  which  Europe  more  than  repaid 
America  for  the  treasures  from  her  coast."  The  people  to 
whom  Hooker  ministered  had  preceded  him  ;  on  the  fourth  of 
September,  as  he  landed,  they  crowded  about  him  with  their 
welcome.  With  open  arms  he  embraced  them,  and  answered : 
"  Now  I  live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord." 

Thus  recruited,  the  little  band  in  Massachusetts  grew  more 
jealous  of  its  liberties.  "  The  prophets  in  exile  see  the  true 
forms  of  the  house."  By  a  common  impulse,  the  freemen  of 
the  towns,  in  1634,  chose  deputies  to  consider  in  advance  the 
duties  of  the  general  court.  The  charter  plainly  gave  legisla- 
tive power  to  the  whole  body  of  the  freemen ;  if  it  allowed 
representatives,  thought  Winthrop,  it  was  only  by  inference ; 
and,  as  the  whole  people  could  not  always  assemble,  the  chief 
power,  it  was  argued,  lay  necessarily  with  the  assistants. 

Far  different  was  the  reasoning  of  the  people.  To  check 
the  democratic  tendency,  Cotton,  on  the  election  day,  in  May, 
preached  to  the  assembled  freemen  against  rotation  in  office. 
The  right  of  an  honest  magistrate  to  his  place  was  like  that  of 
a  proprietor  to  his  freehold.  But  the  electors,  now  between 
three  and  four  hundred  in  number,  were  bent  on  exercising 
"their  absolute  power,"  and,  reversing  the  recommendation  of 
the  pulpit,  chose  a  new  governor  and  deputy.     The  mode  of 


1634-1644.    SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         247 

taking  the  votes  was  at  the  same  time  reformed  ;  and,  instead 
of  the  erection  of  hands,  the  ballot-box  was  introduced.  "  The 
people  established  a  reformation  of  such  things  as  they  judged 
to  be  amiss  in  the  government." 

It  was  further  decreed  that  the  whole  body  of  the  freemen* 
should  be  convened  only  for  the  election  of  the  magistrates ; 
to  these,  with  deputies  to  be  chosen  by  the  several  towns, 
the  powers  of  legislation  and  appointment  were  henceforward 
intrusted.  The  trading  corporation  became  a  representative 
democracy. 

The  law  against  arbitrary  taxation  followed.  None  but 
the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people  might  dispose  of 
lands  or  raise  money.  Thus  early  did  Massachusetts  echo  the 
voice  of  Yirginia,  like  deep  calling  unto  deep.  The  state  was 
filled  with  the  hum  of  village  politicians ;  "  the  freemen 
every  town  on  the  bay  were  busily  inquiring  into  their  libe 
and  privileges."  With  the  exception  of  the  principal  of 
versal  suffrage,  the  representative  democracy  was  as  perfect 
two  centuries  ago  as  it  is  to-day.  Even  the  magistrates,  w^ho 
acted  as  judges,  held  their  office  by  the  annual  popular  choice. 
"  Elections  cannot  be  safe  there  long,"  said  the  lawyer  Lech- 
ford.  The  same  prediction  has  been  made  these  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years.  The  public  mind,  ever  in  perpetual 
agitation,  is  still  easily  shaken,  even  by  slight  and  transient 
impulses ;  but,  after  all  vibrations,  it  follows  the  laws  of  the 
moral  world,  and  safely  recovers  its  balance. 

To  limit  the  discretion  of  the  executive,  of  which  the  peo- 
ple were  persistently  jealous,  they  next  demanded  a  written 
constitution ;  and,  in  May,  1635,  a  commission  was  appointed 
"  to  frame  a  body  of  grounds  of  laws  in  resemblance  to  a 
magna  charta,"  to  serve  as  a  bill  of  rights,  on  which  the  min- 
isters, as  well  as  the  general  court,  were  to  pass  judgment.  A 
year  having  passed  without  a  report,  the  making  of  a  draft  of 
laws  was  intrusted  to  a  larger  committee,  of  which  Cotton  was 
a  member.  His  colleagues  remained  inactive,  but  Cotton  com- 
piled in  an  exact  method  "  all  the  judicial  laws  from  God  by 
Moses,  80  far  as  they  were  of  moral,  that  is,  of  perpetual  and 
universal,  equity;"  and  he  urged  the  establishment  of  a  "the- 
ocraty,  God's  government  over  God's  people."     But  his  code 


2i8  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    pabt  i.  ;  oh.  xit. 

was  never  adopted.  In  March,  1638,  the  several  towns  were 
ordered  before  the  coming  June  to  deliver  in  writing  to  the 
governor  the  heads  of  the  laws  which  they  held  to  be  neces- 
sary and  fundamental ;  and,  from  these  materials  and  their 
own  wisdom,  a  numerous  body,  of  whom  Nathaniel  Ward  was 
one,  were  instructed  to  perfect  the  work. 

The  relative  powers  of  the  assistants  and  the  deputies  re- 
mained for  nearly  ten  years — from  1634  to  1644 — the  subject 
of  discussion  and  contest.  Both  were  elected  by  the  people ; 
the  former  by  the  whole  colony,  the  latter  by  the  several  towns. 
The  two  bodies  sat  together  in  convention  for  the  transac- 
tion of  business ;  but,  when  their  joint  decision  displeased  the 
assistants,  the  latter  claimed  and  exercised  the  further  right 
of  a  separate  negative  vote  on  their  joint  proceedings.  The 
popular  branch  grew  impatient,  and  desired  to  overthrow  the 
veto  power ;  yet  the  authority  of  the  patricians  was  for  the 
time  maintained,  sometimes  by  wise  delay,  sometimes  by  "  a 
judicious  sermon." 

The  controversy  had  required  the  arbitrament  of  the  elders, 
for  the  rock  on  which  the  state  rested  was  religion  ;  a  common 
faith  had  gathered,  and  still  bound  the  people  together.  They 
were  exclusive,  for  they  had  come  to  the  outside  of  the  world 
for  the  privilege  of  living  by  themselves.  Fugitives  from 
persecution,  they  shrank  from  contradiction  as  from  the  ap- 
proach of  peril.  And  why  should  they  open  their  asylum  to 
their  oppressors  ?  Religious  union  was  made  the  bulwark  of 
the  exiles  against  expected  attacks  from  the  hierarchy  of  Eng- 
land. The  wide  continent  of  America  invited  colonization ; 
they  claimed  their  own  narrow  domains  for  "  the  brethren." 
Their  religion  was  their  life ;  they  welcomed  none  but  its 
adherents ;  they  could  not  tolerate  the  scoffer,  the  infidel,  or 
the  dissenter ;  and  the  whole  people  met  together  in  their 
congregations.  Such  was  the  system,  cherished  as  the  strong- 
hold of  their  freedom  and  their  happiness.  "  The  order  of 
the  churches  and  the  commonwealth,"  wrote  Cotton  to  friends 
in  Holland,  "  is  now  so  settled  in  New  England  by  common 
consent  that  it  brings  to  mind  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth 
wherein  dwells  righteousness." 


1633-1634.         THE  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS.  249 


CHAPTEK  XY. 

THE    PROVIDENCE    PLANTATIONS.  (- 

"While  the  state  was  thus  connecting  by  the  closest  bonds 
the  energy  of  its  faith  with  its  form  of  government,  Roger 
Williams,  after  remaining  two  years  or  a  little  more  in  Ply- 
mouth, accepted  a  second  invitation  to  Salem.  The  ministers 
in  the  bay  and  of  Lynn  used  to  meet  once  a  fortnight  at  each 
other's  houses,  to  debate  some  question  of  moment ;  at  this,  in 
November,  1633,  Skelton  and  "Williams  took  some  exception, 
for  fear  the  custom  miglit  growlnto  a  presbytery  or  a  super- 
intendency,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  church's  liberties;  but 
such  a  purpose  was  disclaimed,  and  all  were  clear  that  no 
church  or  person  can  have  power  over  another  church.  Not 
long  afterward,  in  January,  1634,  complaints  were  made 
against  Williams  for  a  paper  which  he  had  written  at  Ply- 
mouth, to  prove  that  a  grant  of  land  in  New  England  from  an 
English  king  could  not  be  perfect  except  the  grantees  ''  com- 
pounded with  the  natives."  The  opinion  sounded  like  treason 
against  the  charter  of  the  coloiW ;  Williams  was  willing  that 
the  offensive  manuscript  should  De  burned ;  and  so  explained, 
its  pmrport  that  the  court,  applauding  his  temper,  declared 
"  the  matters  not  so  evil  as  at  first  they  seemed." 

Yet  his  generosity  and  forbearance  did  not  allay  a  jealousy 
of  his  radical  opposition  to  the  established  system  of  theocracy, 
which  he  condemned,  because  it  plucked  up  the  roots  of  civil 
society  and  brought  all  the  strifes  of  the  state  into  the  garden 
and  paradise  of  the  church.  The  government  avoided  an  ex- 
plicit i-upture  with  the  church  of  England ;  Williams  would 
hold  no  communion  with  it  on  account  of  its  intolerance ; 
"  for,"   said  he,  "  the  doctrine  of  persecution  for  cause  of 

VOL.  I.— 18 


250  EliTGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     paet  i. ;  oh.  xv. 

conscience  is  most  evidently  and  lamentably  contrary  to  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  magistrates  insisted  on  the 
presence  of  every  man  at  public  worship  ;  Williams  reprobated 
the  law ;  the  worst  statute  in  the  English  code  was  that  which 
did  but  enforce  attendance  upon  the  parish  church.  To  com- 
pel men  to  unite  with  those  of  a  different  creed  he  regarded 
as  an  open  violation  of  their  natural  rights ;  to  drag  to  public 
worship  the  irreligious  and  the  unwilling  seemed  only  like 
requiring  hypocrisy.  "  An  unbelieving  soul  is  dead  in  sin," 
such  was  his  argument ;  and  to  force  the  indifferent  from  one 
worship  to  another  "  was  like  shifting  a  dead  man  into  several 
changes  of  apparel."  "  No  one  should  be  bound  to  worship, 
or,"  he  added,  "  to  maintain  a  worship,  against  his  own  con- 
sent." "  What !  "  exclaimed  his  antagonists,  amazed  at  his 
tenets  ;  "  is  not  the  laborer  worthy  of  his  hire  ?  "  "  Yes," 
replied  he,  "  from  them  that  hire  him." 

The  magistrates  were  selected  exclusively  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church  ;  with  equal  propriety,  reasoned  Williams, 
might  "  a  doctor  of  physick  or  a  pilot "  be  selected  according 
to  his  skill  in  theology  and  his  standing  in  the  church. 

It  was  objected  to  him  that  his  principles  subverted  all 
good  government.  The  commander  of  the  vessel  of  state, 
replied  Williams,  may  maintain  order  on  board  the  ship,  and 
see  that  it  pursues  its  course  steadily,  even  though  the  dis- 
senters of  the  crew  are  not  compelled  to  attend  the  public 
prayers  of  their  companions. 

But  the  controversy  finally  turned  on  the  question  of  the 
rights  and  duty  of  magistrates  to  guard  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple against  corrupting  influences,  and  to  punish  what  would 
seem  to  them  error  and  heresy.  Magistrates,  Williams  pro- 
tested, are  but  the  agents  of  the  people,  or  its  trustees,  on 
whom  no  spiritual  power  in  matters  of  worship  can  ever  be 
conferred,  since  conscience  belongs  to  the  individual,  and  is 
not  the  property  of  the  body  politic;  and  with  admirable 
dialectics,  clothing  the  great  truth  in  its  boldest  and  most  gen- 
eral forms,  he  asserted  that  "  the  civil  magistrate  may  not 
intermeddle  even  to  stop  a  church  from  apostasy  and  heresy," 
**  that  his  power  extends  only  to  the  bodies  and  goods  and 
outward   estate  of   men."    With   corresponding  distinctness, 


1634-1635.         THE  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS.  251 

he  foresaw  the  influence  of  his  principles  on  society.  "  The 
removal  of  the  yoke  of  soul-oppression,"  to  use  the  words  in 
which,  at  a  later  day,  he  confirmed  his  early  view,  "  as  it  will 
prove  an  act  of  mercy  and  righteousness  to  the  enslaved  na- 
tions, so  it  is  of  binding  force  to  engage  the  whole  and  every 
interest  and  conscience  to  preserve  the  common  liberty  and 
peace." 

The  same  magistrates  who  punished  Eliot,  the  apostle  of 
the  Indian  race,  for  censuring  their  measures,  could  not  brook 
the  independence  of  Williams ;  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  seemed  to  them  to  justify  their  apprehensions.  An  in- 
tense jealousy  was  excited  in  England  against  Massachusetts; 
"  members  of  the  general  court  received  intelligence  of  some 
episcopal  and  malignant  practices  against  the  country;"  and 
the  magistrates  on  the  one  hand  were  careful  to  avoid  all  un- 
necessary offence  to  the  English  government,  on  the  other  were 
consolidating  their  own  institutions,  and  even  preparing  for 
resistance.  It  was  in  this  view  that  the  freeman's  oath  was 
appointed,  by  which  every  freeman  was  obliged  to  pledge  his 
allegiance,  not  to  King  Charles,  but  to  Massachusetts.  There 
was  room  for  scruples  on  the  subject ;  and  an  English  lawyer 
would  have  questioned  the  legality  of  the  measure.  The  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  for  which  Williams  contended,  denied  the 
right  of  a  compulsory  imposition  of  an  oath :  when,  in  March,, 
1635,  he  was  summoned  before  the  court,  he  could  not  re- 
nounce his  belief  ;  and  his  influence  was  such  "  that  the  gov- 
ernment was  forced  to  desist  from  that  proceeding."  To  the 
magistrates  he  seemed  the  ally  of  a  civil  faction;  to  himself 
he  appeared  only  to  make  a  frank  avowal  of  truth.  Before 
the  tribunals,  he  spoke  with  the  distinctness  of  clear  and  set- 
tled convictions.  He  was  fond  of  discussion ;  and  to  the  end 
of  his  life  was  always  ready  for  controversy,  as  the  means  "  to; 
bolt  out  the  truth  to  the  bran." 

The  court  at  Boston  remained  as  yet  undecided  ;  the  church 
of  Salem — those  who  were  best  acquainted  with  Williams — 
taking  no  notice  of  the  recent  investigations,  elected  him 
their  teacher.  Immediately  the  ministers  met  together,  and 
declared  any  one  worthy  of  banishment  who  should  obsti- 
nately assert  that  "  the  civil  magistrate  might  not  intermed- 


252  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xt. 

die  even  to  stop  a  church  from  apostasy  and  heresy;"  the 
magistrates  delayed  action,  only  that  a  committee  of  divines 
might  have  time  to  repair  to  Salem  and  deal  with  "Williams 
and  with  the  church  in  a  church  way.  Meantime,  the  people 
of  Salem  were  blamed  for  their  choice  of  a  religious  guide ; 
and  a  tract  of  land,  to  which  they  had  a  claim,  was  withheld 
from  them  as  a  punishment. 

To  the  ministers  Williams  frankly  but  temperately  ex- 
plained his  doctrines ;  and  he  was  armed  at  all  points  for  their 
defence.  In  conjunction  with  the  church,  he  wrote  "let- 
ters unto  all  the  churches  whereof  any  of  the  magistrates  were 
members,  that  they  might  admonish  the  magistrates  of  their 
injustice." 

At  the  next  general  court,  Salem  was  disfranchised  till  an 
ample  apology  for  the  letter  should  be  made.  The  town  sub- 
mitted ;  so  did  the  church.  Williams  was  left  alone.  An- 
ticipating the  censures  of  the  colonial  churches,  he  declared 
himself  no  longer  subjected  to  their  spiritual  jurisdiction. 
"My  own  voluntary  withdrawing  from  all  these  churches, 
resolved  to  continue  in  persecuting  the  witnesses  of  the  Lord, 
presenting  light  unto  them,  I  confess  it  was  mine  own  volun- 
tary act ;  yea,  I  hope  the  act  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  sounding 
iorth  in  me  the  blast,  which  shall  in  his  own  holy  season  cast 
down  the  strength  and  confidence  of  those  inventions  of 
men."  Summoned  in  October  to  appear  before  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  state,  he  "  maintained  the  rocky  strength " 
of  his  convictions,  and  held  himself  "  ready  to  be  bound  and 
banished,  and  even  to  die  in  Kew  England,"  rather  than 
renounce  them. 

The  members  of  the  general  court  of  1635  pronounced 
against  him  the  sentence  of  exile,  yet  not  by  a  very  large 
majority.  Some,  who  consented  to  his  banishment,  would 
never  have  yielded  but  for  the  persuasions  of  Cotton;  and 
the  judgment  was  vindicated,  not  as  a  restraint  on  freedom  of 
conscience,  but  because  the  application  of  the  new  doctrine  to 
the  construction  of  the  patent,  to  the  discipline  of  the  churches, 
and  to  the  "  oaths  for  making  tryall  of  the  fidelity  of  the  peo- 
ple," seemed  about  "to  subvert  the  fundamental  state  and 
government  jof  the  jeountry." 


1636-1638.        THE  PROVIDENCE   PLANTATIONS.  253 

Winter  was  at  hand ;  Williams  obtained  permission  to  re- 
main till  spring,  intending  then  to  begin  a  new  plantation. 
But  the  affections  of  the  people  of  Salem  revived ;  they 
thronged  to  his  house  to  hear  him  whom  they  were  so  soon 
to  lose  forever ;  "  many  of  the  people  were  much  taken  with 
the  apprehension  of  his  godliness;"  his  opinions  were  con- 
tagious ;  the  infection  spread  widely.  It  was  therefore  re- 
solved to  remove  him  to  England  in  a  ship  that  was  just  ready 
to  set  sail.  In  January,  1636,  a  warrant  was  accordingly  sent 
to  him  to  come  to  Boston  and  embark.  For  the  first  time  he 
declined  the  summons  of  the  court.  A  pinnace  was  sent  for 
him ;  the  officers  repaired  to  his  house ;  he  was  no  longer 
there.  Three  days  before,  he  had  left  Salem,  in  winter  snow 
and  inclement  weather,  of  which  he  remembered  the  severity 
even  in  his  late  old  age.  "  For  fourteen  weeks  he  was  sorely 
tost  in  a  bitter  season,  not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed  did 
mean."  Often  in  the  stormy  night  he  had  neither  fire,  nor 
food,  nor  company ;  often  he  wandered  without  a  guide,  and 
had  no  house  but  a  hollow  tree.  But  he  was  not  vnthout 
friends.  The  respect  for  the  rights  of  others,  which  had  led 
him  to  defend  the  freedom  of  conscience,  had  made  him  the 
champion  of  the  Indians.  He  had  learned  their  language  dur- 
ing his  residence  at  Plymouth,  had  often  been  the  guest  of 
the  neighboring  sachems ;  and  now,  when  he  came  in  winter 
to  the  cabin  of  the  chief  of  Pokanoket,  he  was  welcomed  by 
Massassoit ;  and  "  the  barbarous  heart  of  Canonicus,  the  chief 
of  the  Narragansetts,  loved  him  as  his  son  to  the  last  gasp." 
"  The  ravens,"  he  relates,  "  fed  me  in  the  wilderness."  And, 
in  requital  for  their  hospitality,  he  was  ever  through  his  long 
life  their  friend  and  benefactor ;  the  apostle  of  Christianity  to 
them  without  hire,  or  weariness,  or  impatience  at  their  idola- 
try ;  the  pacificator  of  their  own  feuds ;  the  guardian  of  their 
rights,  whenever  Europeans  attempted  an  invasion  of  their  soil. 

He  first  began  to  build  and  plant  at  Seekonk,  which  was 
within  the  patent  of  Plymouth.  "That  ever-honored  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop,"  says  Williams,  "privately  wrote  to  me  to 
steer  my  course  to  the  Narragansett  bay,  encouraging  me 
from  the  freeness  of  the  place  from  English  claims  or  patents. 
I  took  his  prudent  motion  as  a  voice  from  God." 


254  ENGLISH   PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.;  oh.  xv. 

In  June,  the  law-giver  of  Rhode  Island,  with  five  compan- 
ions, embarked  on  the  stream ;  a  frail  Indian  canoe  contained 
the  founder  of  an  independent  state  and  its  earliest  citizens. 
Tradition  has  marked  the  spring  of  water  near  which  they 
landed.  To  express  unbroken  confidence  in  the  mercies  of 
God,  he  called  the  place  Providence.  '*  I  desired,"  said 
he,  "  it  might  be  for  a  shelter  for  persons  distressed  for  con- 
science." 

In  his  new  abode,  "  My  time,"  wrote  Williams  of  himself, 
"  was  not  spent  altogether  in  spiritual  labors ;  but  day  and 
night,  at  home  and  abroad,  on  the  land  and  water,  at  the  hoe, 
at  the  oar,  for  bread."  Within  two  years  others  fled  to  his 
asylum.  The  land  which  he  occupied  was  within  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Narragansetts.  In  March,  1638,  an  Indian  deed 
from  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh  made  him  the  undisputed 
possessor  of  an  extensive  domain ;  but  he  "  always  stood  for 
liberty  and  equality,  both  in  land  and  government."  The 
soil  became  his  "  own  as  truly  as  any  man's  coat  upon  his 
back  ;  "  and  he  "  reserved  to  himself  not  one  foot  of  land,  not 
one  tittle  of  political  power,  more  than  he  granted  to  servants 
and  strangers."  "  He  gave  away  his  lands  and  other  estate  to 
them  that  he  thought  were  most  in  want,  until  he  gave  away 
all." 

So  long  as  the  number  of  inhabitants  was  small,  public 
affairs  were  transacted  by  a  monthly  town  meeting.  A  com- 
monwealth was  built  up  where  the  will  of  the  greater  number 
of  householders  or  masters  of  families,  and  such  others  as  they 
should  admit  into  their  town  fellowship,  should  govern  the 
state  ;  yet  "  only  in  civil  things ; "  God  alone  was  respected  as 
the  Ruler  of  conscience. 

At  a  time  when  Germany  was  desolated  by  the  implacable 
wars  of  religion  ;  when  even  Holland  could  not  pacify  venge- 
ful sects ;  when  France  was  still  to  go  through  tlie  fearful 
struggle  with  bigotry ;  when  England  was  gasping  under  the 
despotism  of  intolerance ;  almost  half  a  century  before  William 
Penn  became  an  American  proprietary ;  and  while  Descartes 
was  constructing  modern  philosophy  on  the  method  of  free 
reflection — Roger  Williams  asserted  the  great  doctrine  of  intel- 
lectual liberty,  and  made  it  the  corner-stone  of  a  political  con- 


1638.  THE  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS.  255 

stitution.  It  became  his  glory  to  found  a  state  upon  that 
principle,  and  to  stamp  himself  upon  its  rising  institutions,  in 
characters  so  deep  that  the  impress  has  remained  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  can  never  be  erased  without  the  total  destruction 
of  the  work.  The  principles  which  he  first  sustained  amid 
the  bickerings  of  a  colonial  parish,  next  asserted  in  the  gen- 
eral court  of  Massachusetts,  and  then  introduced  into  the 
wilds  on  Karragansett  bay,  he  found  occasion,  in  1644,  to 
publish  in  England,  and  to  defend  as  the  basis  of  the  religious 
freedom  of  mankind ;  so  that,  borrrowing  the  language  em- 
ployed by  his  antagonist  in  derision,  we  may  compare  him  to 
the  lark,  the  pleasant  bird  of  the  peaceful  summer,  that, 
"  affecting  to  soar  aloft,  springs  upward  from  the  ground,  takes 
his  rise  from  pale  to  tree,"  and  at  last  utters  his  clear  carols 
through  the  skies  of  morning.  He  was  the  first  person  in 
modern  Christendom  to  establish  civil  government  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  liberty  of  conscience,  the  equality  of  opinions 
before  the  law  ;  and  in  its  defence  he  was  the  harbinger  of 
Milton,  the  precursor  and  the  superior  of  Jeremy  Taylor. 
For  Taylor  limited  his  toleration  to  a  few  Christian  sects ;  the 
wisdom  of  Williams  compassed  mankind.  Taylor  favored 
partial  reform,  commended  lenity,  argued  for  forbearance,  and 
entered  a  special  plea  in  behalf  of  each  tolerable  sect ;  Will- 
iams would  permit  persecution  of  no  opinion,  of  no  religion, 
leaving  heresy  unharmed  by  law,  and  orthodoxy  unprotected 
by  the  terrors  of  penal  statutes.  Taylor  clung  to  the  neces- 
sity of  positive  regulations  enforcing  religion  and  eradicating 
error,  like  the  poets,  who  first  declare  their  hero  to  be  invul- 
nerable, and  then  clothe  him  in  earthly  armor ;  Williams  was 
willing  to  leave  Truth  alone,  in  her  own  panoply  of  light, 
believing  that,  if  in  the  ancient  feud  between  Truth  and 
Error  the  employment  of  force  could  be  entirely  abrogated, 
Truth  would  have  much  the  best  of  the  bargain.  High 
honors  are  justly  awarded  to  those  who  advance  the  bounds  of 
human  knowledge,  but  a  moral  principle  has  a  much  wider 
and  nearer  influence  on  human  happiness ;  nor  can  any  dis- 
covery be  of  more  direct  benefit  to  society  than  that  which  is 
to  establish  in  the  world  the  most  free  activity  of  reason  and 
a  perpetual  religious  peace.     Had  the  territory  of   Rhode 


256  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xv. 

Island  been  large,  the  world  would  at  once  have  been  filled 
with  wonder  and  admiration  at  its  history.  The  excellency  of 
the  principles  on  which  it  rested  its  earliest  institutions  is  not 
diminished  by  the  narrowness  of  the  land  in  which  they  were 
for  the  first  time  tested.  Let,  then,  the  name  of  Eoger  Will- 
iams be  preserved  in  universal  history  as  one  who  advanced 
moral  and  political  science,  and  made  himself  a  benefactor  of 
his  race. 

The  most  touching  trait  in  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island 
was  his  conduct  toward  those  who  had  driven  him  out  of  their 
society.  He  says  of  them  truly  :  "  I  did  ever,  from  my  soul, 
honor  and  love  them,  even  when  their  judgment  led  them  to 
afflict  me."  In  his  writings  he  inveighs  against  the  spirit  of 
intolerance,  and  never  against  his  persecutors  or  the  colony  of 
Massachusetts.  We  shall  presently  behold  him  requite  their 
severity  by  exposing  his  life  at  their  request  and  for  their 
benefit.  It  is  not  strange,  then,  if  "  many  hearts  were  touched 
with  relentings."  The  half- wise  Cotton  Mather  concedes  that 
many  judicious  persons  confessed  him  to  have  had  the  root  of 
the  matter  in  him ;  and  the  immediate  witnesses  of  his  actions 
declared  him,  from  "  the  whole  course  and  tenor  of  his  life 
and  conduct,  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  disinterested  men 
that  ever  lived,  a  most  pious  and  heavenly  minded  soul." 


1634-1636.    THE  COLONIZATION  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.        257 


/ 


CHAPTEK  XYL 

COLONIZATION     OF    NJEW    HAMPSHIRE,    RHODE     ISLAND,    AND    CON- 
NECTICUT. 

Rhode  Island  was  tlie  offspring  of  Massachusetts ;  but  the 
loss  of  a  few  inhabitants  was  not  sensibly  felt  in  the  parent 
colony.  When  the  first  difficulties  of  encountering  the  wil- 
derness had  been  surmounted,  and  an  apprehension  had  arisen 
of  evil  days  that  were  to  befall  England,  the  stream  of  emi- 
gration flowed  with  a  full  current  to  Massachusetts ;  "  Godly 
people  there  began  to  apprehend  a  special  hand  of  Providence 
in  raising  this  plantation,  and  their  hearts  were  generally 
stirred,  to  come  over."  The  new  settlers  were  so  many  that 
there  was  no  room  for  them  all  in  the  earlier  places  of  abode ; 
and  Simon  Willard,  a  trader,  joining  with  Peter  Bulkeley,  a 
minister  from  St.  John's  College  in  Cambridge,  a  man  of 
wealth,  benevolence,  and  great  learning,  became  chief  instru- 
ments in  extending  the  frontier.  Under  their  guidance,  at 
the  fall  of  the  leaf  in  1635,  a  band  of  twelve  families,  toil- 
ing through  thickets  of  ragged  bushes,  and  clambering  over 
crossed  trees,  made  their  way  along  Indian  paths  to  the  green 
meadows  of  Concord.  A  tract  of  land  six  miles  square  was 
purchased  for  the  planters  of  the  squaw  sachem  and  a  chief 
to  whom,  according  to  Indian  laws  of  property,  it  belonged. 
The  suffering  settlers  burrowed  for  their  first  shelter  under 
a  hillside.  The  cattle  sickened  on  the  wild  fodder;  sheep 
and  swine  were  destroyed  by  wolves ;  there  was  no  flesh  but 
game.  The  long  rains  poured  through  the  insufficient  roofs 
of  their  smoky  cottages,  and  troubled  even  the  time  for  sleep. 
Yet  the  men  labored  willingly,  for  they  had  their  wives  and 
little  ones  about  them.     The  forest  rung  with  their  psalms ; 


258  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

and  "  tlie  poorest  people  of  God  in  the  whole  world,"  unable 
"  to  excel  in  number,  strength,  or  riches,  resolved  to  strive  to 
excel  in  grace  and  in  holiness."  That  Kew  England  village 
will  one  day  engage  the  attention  of  the  world. 

Meantime,  the  fame  of  the  liberties  of  MflSRHplmflpffa  ex- 
tended widely.  Among  those  who  came  in  1635  was  the  fiery 
Hugh  Peter,  who  had  been  pastor  of  a  church  of  English 
exiles  in  Rotterdam,  a  republican  of  energy  and  eloquence, 
not  always  tempering  enterprise  with  judgment.  At  the 
same  time  came  Henry  Yane,  the  younger,  "  for  conscience' 
sake."  "  He  liked  not  the  discipline  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, of  which  none  of  the  ministers  would  give  him  the 
sacrament  standing."  "Neither  persuasions  of  the  bishops 
nor  authority  of  his  parents  prevailed  with  him  ; "  and,  from 
"  obedience  of  the  gospel,"  he  cheerfully  "  forsook  the  prefer- 
ments of  the  court  of  Charles  for  the  ordinances  of  religion  in 
their  purity  in  New  England." 

The  freemen  of  Massachusetts,  pleased  that  a  young  man 
of  his  rank  and  ability  agreed  with  them  in  belief  and  shared 
their  exile,  in  1636,  elected  him  their  governor.  The  choice 
was  unwise,  for  neither  age  nor  experience  entitled  him  to  the 
distinction.  He  came  but  as  a  sojourner,  and  was  not  imbued 
with  the  genius  of  the  place ;  his  clear  mind,  fresh  from  the 
public  business  of  England,  saw  distinctly  what  the  colonists 
did  not  wish  to  see — the  wide  difference  between  their  practice 
under  their  charter  and  the  meaning  of  ^that  instrument  on 
the  principles  of  English  jurisprudence. 

At  first,  the  arrival  of  Yane  seemed  a  pledge  for  the  emi- 
gration of  men  of  the  highest  rank.  Several  English  peers, 
especially  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  a  Presbyterian,  a  friend  to  the 
Puritans,  yet  with  but  dim  perceptions  of  the  true  nature  of 
civil  liberty,  and  Lord  Brooke,  a  man  of  charity  and  meek- 
ness, an  early  friend  to  tolerance,  had  begun  to  negotiate  for 
such  changes  as  would  offer  them  inducements  for  removing 
to  America.  They  demanded  a  division  of  the  general  court 
into  two  branches,  that  of  assistants  and  of  representatives — a 
change  which,  from  domestic  reasons,  was  ultimately  adopted ; 
but  they  further  required  an  acknowledgment  of  their  own 
hereditary  right  to  a  seat  in  the  upper  house.     The  fathers  of 


IB36-1638.    THE  COLONIZATION   OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.      259 

Massachusetts  promised  them  the.  honors  of  magistracy,  and 
began  to  make  appointments  for  life ;  but,  as  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  hereditary  dignity,  they  answered  by  the  hand  of 
Cotton :  "  Where  God  blesseth  any  branch  of  any  noble  or 
generous  family  with  a  spirit  and  gifts  fit  for  government,  it 
would  be  a  taking  of  God's  name  in  vain  to  put  such  a  talent 
Vi  -».der  a  bushel,  and  a  sin  against  the  honor  of  magistracy  to 
neglect  such  in  our  public  elections.  But,  if  God  should  not 
delight  to  furnish  some  of  their  posterity  with  gifts  fit  for 
magistracy,  we  should  expose  them  rather  to  reproach  and 
prejudice,  and  the  commonwealth  with  them,  than  exalt  them 
to  honor,  if  we  should  call  them  forth,  when  God  doth  not,  to 
public  authority."  The  people,  moreover,  were  uneasy  at  any 
permanent  concession  of  office ;  Saltonstall,  ^'  that  much-hon- 
ored and  upright-hearted  servant  of  Christ,"  loudly  reproved 
"the  sinful  innovation,"  and  advocated  its  reform ;  nor  would 
the  freemen  be  quieted  till,  in  1639,  it  was  made  a  law  that 
those  who  were  appointed  magistrates  for  life  should  yet  not 
be  magistrates  except  in  those  years  in  which  they  should  be 
regularly  chosen  at  the  annual  election. 

The  institutions  of  Massachusetts  were  likewise  in  jeopardy 
from  religious  divisions.  In  Boston  and  its  environs,  the  most 
profound  questions  relating  to  human  existence  and  the  laws 
of  the  moral  world  were  discussed  with  passionate  zeal ;  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  claimed  as  the  inward  companion  of  man ; 
while  many  persons,  in  their  zeal  to  distinguish  between  ab- 
stract truth  and  the  forms  under  which  truth  is  conveyed, 
between  unchanging  principles  and  changing  institutions,  were 
in  perpetual  danger  of  making  shipwreck  of  all  religious  faith. 

Amid  the  arrogance  of  spiritual  pride,  the  vagaries  of  un- 
disciplined imaginations,  and  the  extravagances  to  which  the 
intellectual  power  may  be  led  in  its  pursuit  of  ultimate  princi- 
ples, two  distinct  parties  may  be  perceived.  The  first  consisted 
of  the  original  settlers,  the  framers  of  the  civil  government  and 
their  adherents ;  they  who  were  intent  on  the  foundation  and 
preservation  of  a  commonwealth,  and  were  satisfied  with  the 
established  order  of  society.  They  had  founded  their  govern- 
ment on  the  basis  of  the  church,  and  church  membership  could 
be  obtained  only  by  an  exemplary  Hfe  and  the  favor  of  the 


260  EITGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    pabt  i.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

clergy.  Thej  dreaded  unlimited  freedom  of  opinion  as  the 
parent  of  ruinous  divisions.  "  The  cracks  and  flaws  in  the 
new  building  of  the  reformation,"  thought  they,  "  portend  a 
fall ; "  they  desired  patriotism,  union,  and  a  common  heart ; 
they  were  earnest  to  confirm  and  build  up  the  state,  the  child 
of  their  cares  and  their  sorrows. 

The  other  party  was  composed  of  individuals  who  had 
arrived  after  the  civil  government  and  religious  discipline  of 
the  colony  had  been  established.  Their  pride  consisted  in  fol- 
lowing the  principles  of  the  reformation  with  logical  precision 
to  all  their  consequences.  Their  eyes  were  not  primarily 
directed  to  the  institutions  of  Massachusetts,  but  to  articles  of 
religion ;  and  they  resisted  every  form  of  despotism  over  the 
mind.  To  them,  the  clergy  of  Massachusetts  were  "  the  ushers 
of  persecution,"  "  popish  factors  "  who  had  not  imbibed  the 
true  principle  of  Christian  reform;  the  magistrates  were 
"  priest-ridden  "  under  a  covenant  of  works ;  and  they  applied 
to  the  influence  of  the  Puritan  ministers  the  principle  which 
Luther  and  Calvin  had  employed  against  the  observances  and 
pretensions  of  the  Roman  church.  Standing  on  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith  aloiie,  they  derided  the  formality  of 
the  established  religion  ;  and  by  asserting  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
dwells  in  every  believer,  that  the  revelation  of  the  Spirit  is 
superior  "  to  the  ministry  of  the  word,"  they  sustained  with 
intense  fanaticism  the  paramount  authority  of  private  judg- 
ment. 

The  founder  of  this  party  was  Anne  Hutchinson,  a  woman 
of  such  admirable  understanding  "and  profitable  and  sober 
carriage  "  that  her  enemies  could  never  speak  of  her  without 
acknowledging  her  eloquence  and  ability.  She  was  encour- 
aged by  John  Wheelwright,  a  silenced  minister,  who  had  mar- 
ried her  husband's  sister,  and  by  Henry  Tane,  the  governor  of 
the  colony;  while  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Boston  ap- 
proved her  rebellion  against  the  clergy.  Men  of  learning, 
members  of  the  magistracy  and  of  the  general  court,  accepted 
her  opinions.  The  public  mind  seemed  hastening  toward  an 
insurrection  against^spiritual  authority  •)and  she  was  denounced 
as  "  weakening  the  hands  and  hearts  of  the  people  toward  the 
ministers,"  as  being  "  like  Roger  WilliamSj  or  worse." 


1637-1638.     THE   COLOmZATION   OF  NEW   HAMPSHIRE.     261 

Nearly  all  the  clergy,  except  Cotton,  in  whose  house  Yane 
was  an  inmate,  clustered  together  in  defence  of  their  influence, 
and  in  opposition  to  Yane ;  and  Wheelwright,  who,  in  a  ser- 
mon on  a  fast  day  appointed  in  March,  163Y,  for  the  reconcilia- 
tion of  differences,  maintained  that  "  those  under  a  covenant 
of  grace  must  prepare  for  battle  and  come  out  and  fight  with 
spiritual  weapons  against  pagans,  and  anti-Christians,  and  those 
that  runne  under  a  covenant  of  works,"  in  spite  of  the  remon- 
strance of  the  governor,  was  censured  by  the  general  court  for 
sedition.  At  the  ensuing  choice  of  magistrates,  the  religious 
divisions  controlled  the  elections.  (Some  of  the  friends  of 
"Wheelwright  had  threatened  an  appeal  to  England.  The 
contest  appeared,  therefore,  to  the  people,  not  as  the  struggle 
for  intellectual  freedom  against  the  authority  of  the  clergy, 
but  for  the  liberties  of  Massachusetts  against  the  interference 
of  the  English  government.  In  the  midst  of  such  high  excite- 
ment that  even  Wilson  climbed  into  a  tree  to  harangue  the 
people  on  election  day,  Winthrop  and  his  friends,  the  fathers 
and  founders  of  the  colony,  recovered  power.  But  the  dis- 
pute infused  its  spirit  into  everything ;  it  interfered  with  the 
levy  of  troops  for  the  Pequod  war ;  it  influenced  the  respect 
shown  to  the  magistrates ;  the  distribution  of  town-lots ;  the 
assessment  of  rates ;  and  in  May  the  continued  existence  of  the 
two  opposing  parties  was  held  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  gen- 
eral welfare.  To  prevent  the  increase  of  a  faction  esteemed 
so  dangerous,  it  was  enacted  by  the  party  in  power  that  none 
should  be  received  within  the  jurisdiction  but  such  as  should 
be  allowed  by  some  of  the  magistrates.  The  dangers  which 
were  simultaneously  menaced  from  the  Episcopal  party  in  the 
mother  country  gave  to  the  measure  an  air  of  magnanimous 
defiance  ;  it  was  almost  a  proclamation  of  independence.  As 
an  act  of  intolerance,  it  found  in  Yane  an  inflexible  opponent ; 
and,  using  the  language  of  the  times,  he  left  a  memorial  of  his 
dissent.  "  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  such  as  are  confirmed  in 
any  way  of  error  " — these  are  the  remarkable  words  of  the  man, 
who  soon  embarked  for  England,  where  he  pleaded  in  parlia- 
ment for  the  liberties  of  Catholics  and  dissenters — "  all  such 
are  not  to  be  denyed  cohabitation,  but  are  to  be  pitied  and  re- 
formed.    Ishmael  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  his  brethren." 


262  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

The  friends  of  Wheelwright  could  not  brook  his  censure ; 
but,  in  justifying  their  remonstrances,  they  employed  the  lan- 
guage of  fanaticism.  "A  new  rule  of  practice  by  immedi- 
ate revelations "  was  to  be  the  guide  of  their  conduct ;  not 
that  they  expected  a  revelation  "  in  the  way  of  a  miracle ; " 
such  an  idea  Anne  Hutchinson  rejected  "  as  a  delusion  ;  "  they 
only  slighted  the  censures  of  the  ministers  and  the  court,  and 
avowed  their  determination  to  follow  the  free  thought  of  their 
own  minds.  But  individual  conscience  is  often  the  dupe  of 
interest,  and  often  but  a  specious  name  for  self-will.  The 
government  feared,  or  pretended  to  fear,  a  disturbance  of  the 
public  peace.  A  synod  of  the  ministers  of  'New  England  was 
therefore  assembled,  to  settle  the  true  faith.  Numerous  opin- 
ions were  so  stated  that  they  could  be  harmoniously  con- 
demned; and  vagueness  of  language,  so  often  the  parent  of 
furious  controversy,  performed  the  office  of  a  peace-maker. 
After  Yane  had  returned  to  England,  it  was  hardly  possible 
to  find  any  grounds  of  difference  between  the  flexible  Cotton 
and  his  equally  orthodox  opponents.  The  triumph  of  the 
clergy  being  complete,  the  civil  magistrates  proceeded  to  pass 
sentence  on  the  more  resolute  offenders.  Wheelwright,  Anne 
Hutchinson,  and  Aspinwall  were  exiled  from  the  territory  of 
Massachusetts,  as  "  unfit  for  the  society "  of  its  citizens ;  and 
their  adherents,  who,  it  was  feared,  "  might,  upon  some  reve- 
lation, make  a  sudden  insurrection,"  and  who  were  ready  to 
seek  protection  by  an  appeal  from  the  authority  of  the  colonial 
government,  were  required  to  deliver  up  their  arms. 

The  principles  of  Anne  Hutchinson  are  best  seen  in  the 
institutions  which  were  founded  by  her  associates.  Wheel- 
wright and  his  friends  removed  to  the  banks  of  the  Piscata- 
qua;  and,  at  the  head  of  tide-water  on  that  stream,  they 
founded  the  town  of  Exeter,  one  more  little  republic  in  the 
wilderness,  organized  on  the  principles  of  natural  justice  by 
the  voluntary  combination  of  the  inhabitants. 

A  larger  number,  led  by  John  Clark  and  William  Codding- 
ton,  proceeded  to  the  south,  designing  to  make  a  plantation  on 
Long  Island  or  near  Delaware  bay.  But  Eoger  Williams  per- 
suaded them  to  plant  in  his  vicinity.  In  March,  1638,  a  social 
compact,  signed  after  the  precedent  of  New  Plymouth,  founded 


1C38-1643.    THE   COLONIZATION  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  263 

their  government  upon  the  universal  consent  of  the  inhabit- 
ants; the  forms  of  administration  were  borrowed  from  the 
Jews.  Coddington,  who  had  been  one  of  the  magistrates  in 
Massachusetts,  and  had  always  testified  against  their  persecut- 
ing spirit,  was  elected  judge  in  the  new  Israel.  Before  the 
month  was  at  an  end,  the  influence  of  Roger  "Williams  and  the 
name  of  Henry  Yane  prevailed  with  Miantonomoh,  the  chief 
of  the  JS^arragansetts,  to  make  them  a  gift  of  the  beautiful 
island  of  Rhode  Island.  Under  this  grant,  they  clustered 
round  the  cove  on  the  north-east  part  of  the  island ;  and,  as 
they  grew  rapidly  in  numbers,  in  the  spring  of  1639,  a  part  of 
them  removed  to  Newport.  The  colony  rested  on  the  princi- 
ple of  intellectual  liberty;  philosophy  itself  could  not  have 
placed  it  on  a  broader  basis.  In  March,  1641,  it  was  ordered 
by  the  whole  body  of  freemen,  and  "unanimously  agreed 
upon,  that  the  government,  which  this  body  politic  doth  at- 
tend unto  in  this  island  and  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  in  favor 
of  our  prince,  is  a  Democracie,  or  popular  government ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  body  of  freemen  orderly 
assembled,  or  major  part  of  them,  to  make  or  constitute  just 
lawes,  by  which  they  will  be  regulated,  and  to  depute  from 
among  themselves  such  ministers  as  shall  see  them  faithfully 
executed  between  man  and  man."  "  It  was  further  ordered 
that  none  be  accounted  a  delinquent  for  doctrine ; "  the  law 
for  "  liberty  of  conscience  was  perpetuated."  The  little  com- 
munity was  held  together  by  the  bonds  of  affection  and  freedom 
of  opinion  ;  and  "  the  signet  for  the  state  "  was  ordered  to  be 
"  a  sheafe  of  arrows,"  with  "  the  motto  Amor  vincet  omnia  : 
Love  shall  conquer  all  things."  A  patent  from  England  was 
necessary  for  their  security ;  and  in  September  they  obtained 
it  through  the  now  powerful  Henry  Yane. 

Of  these  institutions  Anne  Hutchinson  did  not  long  enjoy 
the  protection.  Recovering  from  dejectedness,  she  gloried  in 
her  sufferings,  as  her  greatest  happiness  ;  travelled  from  Mas- 
sachusetts to  the  settlement  of  Roger  Williams,  and  from 
thence  joined  her  friends  on  the  island.  Young  men  from 
other  colonies  became  converts  to  her  opinions ;  and  she  excited 
such  admiration  that  to  the  leaders  in  Massachusetts  it  "gave 
cause  of  suspicion  of  witchcraft."     One  of  her  sons  and  Col- 


264  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xvi. 

lins,  her  son-in-law,  ventured  to  expostulate  witli  tlie  people  of 
Boston  on  the  wrongs  of  their  mother.  Severe  imprisonment 
for  many  months  was  the  punishment  for  their  boldness. 
Rhode  Island  itself  seemed  no  l^^ger  a  safe  refuge ;  and  the 
family  removed  beyond  New  Haven  into  the  territory  of  the 
Dutch.  There  Kieft,  the  violent  governor,  provoked  an  insur- 
rection among  the  Indians ;  in  1643,  the  house  of  Anne  Hutch- 
inson, then  a  widow,  was  attacked  and  set  on  fire ;  herself,  her 
son-in-law,  and  all  their  family,  save  one  child,  perished  by 
the  savages  or  by  the  flames.  The  river  near  which  stood  her 
house  is  to  this  day  called  by  her  name. 

Williams  and  Wheelwright  and  Aspinwall  suffered  not 
more  from  their  banishment  than  some  of  the  best  men  of 
the  colony  encountered  from  choice. 
^j>r^  The  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  as  early  as  1630,  became 
^i^y^  an  object  of  competition.  In  the  following  year  the  earl  of 
/^  Warwick  became  its  first  proprietary,  under  a  grant  from  the 
council  for  New  England ;  and  it  was  held  by  Lord  Say  and 
Seal,  Lord  Brooke,  John  Hampden,  and  others,  as  his  assigns. 
Before  any  colony  could  be  established  with  their  sanction,  the 
people  of  Kew  Plymouth,  in  October,  1633,  built  a  trading- 
house  at  Windsor,  and  conducted  with  the  natives  a  profitable 
commerce  in  furs.  For  the  same  trade,  "  Dutch  intruders  " 
from  Manhattan,  ascending  the  river,  raised  at  Hartford  the 
house  "  of  Good  Hope,"  and  struggled  to  secure  the  territory 
to  themselves.  In  1635,  the  younger  Winthrop  returned  from 
England  with  a  commission  from  its  proprietaries  to  erect  a 
fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  and  the  commission  was  car- 
ried into  effect.  Other  settlements  were  begun  by  emigrants 
from  the  environs  of  Boston  at  Hartford  and  Windsor  and 
Wethersfield  ;  and,  in  the  last  days  of  October,  a  company  of 
sixty,  among  whom  were  women  and  children,  removed  to  the 
west.  But  their  journey  was  undertaken  too  late  in  the  sea- 
son ;  their  sufferings  were  severe,  and  were  greatly  exagger- 
ated by  malicious  rumor  to  deter  others  from  following  them. 
In  the  opening  of  1636,  "  the  people,  who  had  resolved  to 
transplant  themselves  and  their  estates  unto  the  river  Con- 
necticut, judged  it  inconvenient  to  go  away  without  any  frame 
of  government ; "  and,  at  their  desire,  on  the  third  of  March, 


IG36-1637.     THE   COLONIZATION   OF   CONNECTICUT.  265 

the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  granted  a  temporary  com- 
mission to  eight  men,  two  from  each  of  the  companies  who 
were  to  plant  Springfield,  Windsor,  Hartford,  and  Wethers- 
field.  At  the  budding  of  the  trees  and  the  springing  of  the 
grass,  some  smaller  parties  made  their  way  to  the  new  Hesperia 
of  Puritanism.  In  June,  led  by  Thomas  Hooker,  "  the  light 
of  the  western  churches,"  the  principal  body  of  about  one 
hundred  persons,  many  of  them  accustomed  to  affluence  and 
the  ease  of  European  life,  began  their  march.  Traversing  on 
foot  the  pathless  forest,  they  drove  before  them  herds  of  cat- 
tle ;  advancing  hardly  ten  miles  a  day  ;  subsisting  on  the  milk 
of  the  kine,  which  browsed  on  the  fresh  leaves  and  early 
shoots ;  having  no  guide  but  the  compass,  no  pillow  for  their 
nightly  rest  but  heaps  of  stones.  How  did  the  hills  echo  with 
the  unwonted  lowing  of  herds !  How  were  the  wilds  enliv- 
ened by  the  loud  piety  of  Hooker,  famed  as  "  a  son  of  thun- 
der "  !  The  emigrants  had  been  gathered  from  among  the  most 
valued  citizens,  the  earliest  settlers,  and  the  oldest  churches  of 
the  bay.  Roger  Ludlow,  the  first  named  in  the  commission  for 
government,  unsurpassed  in  his  knowledge  of  the  law  and  the 
rights  of  mankind,  had  been  deputy  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts ;  John  Haynes  had  for  one  year  been  its  governor ;  and 
Hooker  had  no  rival  in  public  estimation  but  Cotton,  whom 
he  surpassed  in  force  of  character,  in  liberality  of  spirit,  in 
soundness  of  judgment,  and  in  clemency. 

The  new  settlement  so  far  toward  the  west  was  environed 
by  perils.  The  Dutch  indulged  a  hope  of  dispossessing  them. 
No  part  of  'New  England  was  more  thickly  covered  with 
aboriginal  inhabitants  than  Connecticut.  The  Pequods  could 
muster  at  least  seven  hundred  fighting  men ;  the  white  men, 
in  number  less  than  two  hundred,  were  incessantly  exposed  to 
an  enemy  whose  delight  was  carnage. 

In  1633,  some  of  the  Pequods  had  murdered  the  captain 
and  crew  of  a  small  Massachusetts  vessel  trading  in  Connecti- 
cut river.  With  some  appearance  of  justice,  they  pleaded 
the  necessity  of  self-defence;  and  in  ISTovember,  1634,  the 
messengers,  whom  they  sent  to  Boston  to  ask  the  alliance  of 
the  white  men,  carried  great  store  of  wampum  peag,  and 
bundles  of  sticks  in  promise  of  so  many  beaver  and  otter 

VOL.  I.— 19 


266  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  en.  xvi. 

skins.  The  government  of  Massachusetts  accepted  the  excuse 
conditionally,  and  reconciled  the  Pequods  with  their  heredi- 
tary enemies,  the  Karragansetts.  No  longer  at  variance  with 
a  powerful  neighbor,  the  Pequods  did  not  deliver  up  the  mur- 
derers. In  July,  1636,  John  Oldham,  an  enterprising  trader, 
returning  from  a  voyage  to  the  Connecticut  river,  was  mur- 
dered, and  his  men  carried  off  by  the  Indians  at  Block  island. 
To  punish  the  crime,  Massachusetts  sent  out  ninety  men  under 
the  command  of  Endecott.  Conforming  as  nearly  as  they 
could  to  their  sanguinary  orders,  they  ravaged  Block  island, 
and  then,  re-enforced  by  volunteers  from  Connecticut,  they 
undertook  the  chastisement  of  the  Pequods.  That  warlike 
tribe  sought  the  alliance  of  its  neighbors,  the  Narragansetts 
and  the  Mohicans.  The  general  rising  of  the  natives  against 
the  colonists  could  be  frustrated  by  none  but  Roger  Williams, 
who  was  the  first  to  give  information  of  the  impending  dan- 
ger. Having  received  letters  from;  Yane  and  the  council  of 
Massachusetts,  requesting  his  utmost  and  speediest  endeavors 
to  prevent  the  league,  neither  storms  of  wind  nor  high  seas 
could  detain  him.  Shipping  himself  alone  in  a  poor  canoe, 
every  moment  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  he  hastened  to  the 
house  of  the  sachem  of  the  Karragansetts.  The  Pequod  am- 
bassadors, reeking  with  blood  freshly  spilled,  were  already 
there ;  and  for  three  days  and  nights  the  business  compelled 
him  to  lodge  and  mix  with  them,  having  cause  every  night  to 
expect  their  knives  at  his  throat.  The  IS'arragansetts  were 
wavering;  but  Roger  Williams  succeeded  in  dissolving  the 
conspiracy.  It  was  the  most  intrepid  achievement  of  the  war, 
as  perilous  in  its  execution  as  it  was  fortunate  in  its  issue. 
The  Pequods  were  left  to  contend  single-handed  against  the 
English. 

Continued  injuries  and  murders  roused  Connecticut  to  ac- 
tion ;  and,  on  the  first  of  May,  1637,  the  court  of  its  three 
infant  towns  decreed  immediate  war.  Uncas,  sachem  of  the 
Mohegans,  was  their  ally.  To  John  Mason  the  staff  of  com- 
mand was  delivered  at  Hartford  by  Hooker ;  and,  after  nearly 
a  whole  night  spent,  at  the  request  of  the  soldiers,  in  impor- 
tunate prayer  by  the  very  learned  and  godly  Stone,  about  sixty 
men,  one  third  of  the  whole  colony,  aided  by  John  Underhill 


1637-1639.    THE  COLONIZATION   OF   CONNECTICUT.  267 

and  twenty  gallant  recruits,  whom  the  forethought  of  Yane 
had  sent  from  the  Bay  State,  sailed  past  the  Thames,  and,  de- 
signing to  reach  the  Pequod  fort  unobserved,  entered  a  harbor 
near  Wickford,  in  the  bay  of  the  Narragansetts.  The  next 
day  was  the  Lord's,  sacred  to  religion  and  rest.  Early  in  the 
week,  the  captains  of  the  expedition,  with  the  pomp  of  a  mili- 
tary escort,  repaired  to  the  court  of  Canonicus,  the  patriarch 
and  ruler  of  the  tribe  ;  and  the  younger  and  more  fiery  Mian- 
tonomoh,  surrounded  by  two  hundred  of  his  bravest  warriors, 
received  them  in  council.  "  Your  design,"  said  he,  "  is  good  ; 
but  your  numbers  are  too  weak  to  brave  the  Pequods,  who 
have  mighty  chieftains,  and  are  skilful  in  battle  ; "  and,  after 
doubtful  friendship,  he  deserted  the  desperate  enterprise. 

To  the  tribe  on  Mystic  river  their  bows  and  arrows  seemed 
formidable  weapons ;  ignorant  of  European  fortresses,  they 
viewed  their  palisades  with  complacency ;  and,  as  the  English 
boats  sailed  by,  it  was  rumored  that  their  enemies  had  van- 
ished through  fear.  Hundreds  of  the  Pequods  spent  much 
of  the  last  night  of  their  lives  in  rejoicings,  at  a  time  when 
the  sentinels  of  the  English  were  within  hearing  of  their 
songs.  On  the  twenty-sixth,  two  hours  before  day,  the  sol- 
diers of  Connecticut  put  themselves  in  motion  ;  and,  at  the 
early  dawn,  they  made  their  attack  on  the  principal  fort, 
which  stood  in  a  strong  position  at  the  summit  of  a  hill.  A 
watch-dog  bays  an  alarm  at  their  approach  ;  the  Indians  awake, 
rally,  and  resist,  as  well  as  bows  and  arrows  can  resist  wea- 
pons of  steel.  The  superiority  of  number  was  with  them ; 
and  fighting  closely,  hand  to  hand,  victory  was  tardy.  "  We 
must  burn  them !"  shouted  Mason,  and  cast  a  firebrand  to  the 
windward  among  the  light  mats  of  their  cabins.  Hardly  could 
the  English  withdraw  to  encompass  the  place  before  the  en- 
campment was  in  a  blaze.  About  six  hundred  Indians — men, 
women,  and  children — perished ;  two  only  of  the  English  had 
fallen. 

With  the  light  of  morning,  three  hundred  or  more  Pequod 
warriors  were  descried,  approaching  from  their  second  fort. 
As  they  beheld  the  smoking  ruins,  they  stamped  on  the  ground 
and  tore  their  hair ;  but  it  was  in  vain  to  attempt  revenge ; 
then  and  always,  to  the  close  of  the  war,  the  feeble  resistance 


268  •  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN   AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xyl 

of  the  natives  hardly  deserved,  says  Mason,  the  name  of  fight- 
ing ;  their  defeat  was  certain,  and  with  little  loss  to  the  Eng- 
lish. They  were  never  formidable  till  they  became  supplied 
with  European  weapons. 

A  portion  of  the  troops  hastened  homeward  to  protect  the 
settlements  from  any  sudden  attack,  while  Mason,  with  about 
twenty  men,  marched  across  the  country  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  New  London  to  the  English  fort  at  Saybrook.  He 
reached  the  river  at  sunset;  Gardner,  who  commanded  the 
fort,  observed  his  approach ;  and  never  did  a  Roman  consul, 
returning  in  triumph,  ascend  the  capitol  with  more  joy  than 
that  of  Mason  and  his  friends  when  they  found  themselves 
received  as  victors,  and  "  nobly  entertained  with  many  great 
guns." 

In  a  few  days  the  troops  from  Massachusetts  arrived,  at- 
tended by  Wilson;  for  the  ministers  shared  every  danger. 
The  remnants  of  the  Pequods  were  pursued  into  their  hiding- 
places.  Sassacus,  their  sachem,  was  killed  by  the  Mohawks, 
to  whom  he  fled  for  protection.  The  few  that  survived,  about 
two  hundred,  surrendering  in  despair,  were  enslaved  by  the 
English,  or  incorporated  among  the  Mohegans  and  the  Nar- 
ragansetts.  "  Fifteen  of  the  boys  and  two  women "  were 
exported  by  Massachusetts  to  Providence  isle  ;  and  the  return- 
ing ship  brought  back  "  some  cotton,  tobacco,  and  negroes." 

The  vigor  and  courage  displayed  by  the  settlers  on  the 
Connecticut,  in  this  first  Indian  war  in  New  England,  secured 
a  long  period  of  peace.  The  infant  was  safe  in  its  cradle,  the 
laborer  in  the  fields,  the  solitary  traveller  during  the  night- 
watches  in  the  forest ;  the  houses  needed  no  bolts,  the  settle- 
ments no  palisades.  The  constitution  which,  on  the  four- 
teenth of  January,  1639,  was  adopted,  was  of  unexampled 
liberality. 

In  two  successive  years,  a  general  court  had  been  held  in 
May;  at  the  time  of  the  election  the  committees  from  the 
towns  came  in  and  chose  their  magistrates,  installed  them,  and 
engaged  themselves  to  submit  to  their  government  and  dispen- 
sation of  justice.  "  The  foundation  of  authority,"  said  Hooker^ 
in  an  election  sermon  preached  before  the  general  court,  on 
the  last  day  of  May,  1638,  "  is  laid  in  the  free  consent  of  the 


1638-1639.    THE   COLOOTZATION"   OF   CONNECTICUT.  269 

people,  to  whom  the  choice  of  public  magistrates  belongs  by 
God's  own  allowance."  "  They  who  have  power  to  appoint 
officers  and  magistrates,  it  is  in  their  power,  also,  to  set  the 
bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place  into  which  they 
call  them." 

Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  held  it  to  be  an  error  in  the 
sister  colony  "  that  they  chose  divers  men  who,  though  other- 
wise holy  and  religious,  had  no  learning  or  judgment  which 
might  fit  them  for  affairs  of  government ;  by  occasion  whereof 
the  main  burden  for  managing  state  government  fell  upon 
some  one  of  their  ministers,  who,  though  they  were  men  of 
singular  wisdom  and  godliness,  yet,  stepping  out  of  their 
course,  their  actions  wanted  that  blessing  which  otherwise 
might  have  been  expected."  In  a  letter,  therefore,  written  to 
Hooker,  in  the  midsummer  of  1638,  "  to  quench  these  sparks 
of  contention,"  Winthrop  made  remarks  on  the  boundary  be- 
tween the  states,  and  on  the  rejected  articles  of  confederation 
which  would  have  given  to  the  commissioners  of  the  states 
"  absolute  power ; "  that  is,  power  of  final  decision,  without 
need  of  approval  by  the  several  states.  He  further  "  expos- 
tulated about  the  unwarrantableness  and  unsafeness  of  refer- 
ring matter  of  counsel  or  judicature  to  the  body  of  the  people, 
quia  the  best  part  is  always  the  least,  and  of  that  best  part 
the  wiser  part  is  always  the  lesser.  The  old  law  was :  Thou 
shalt  bring  the  matter  to  the  judge." 

In  reply,  Hooker  expressed  an  unwillingness  in  the  matter 
of  confederation  "  to  exceed  the  limits  of  that  equity  which  is 
to  be  looked  at  in  all  combinations  of  free  states."  As  to  the 
manner  of  conducting  their  separate  governments,  he  wrote 
unreservedly :  "  That,  in  the  matter  which  is  referred  to  the 
judge,  the  sentence  should  be  left  to  his  discretion,  I  ever 
looked  at  as  a  way  which  leads  directly  to  tyranny,  and  so  to 
confusion ;  and  must  plainly  profess,  if  it  was  in  my  liberty,  I 
should  choose  neither  to  live,  nor  leave  my  posterity,  under 
such  a  government.  Let  the  judge  do  according  to  the  sen- 
tence of  the  law.  Seek  the  law  at  its  mouth.  The  heathen 
man  said,  by  the  candle-light  of  common  sense ;  *  The  law  is 
not  subject  to  passion,  and,  therefore,  ought  to  have  chief  rule 
over  rulers  themselves.'     It's  also  a  truth  that  counsel  should 


270  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

be  sought  from  councillors  ;  but  the  question  yet  is,  who  those 
should  be.  In  matters  of  greater  consequence,  which  concern 
the  common  good,  a  general  council,  chosen  by  all,  to  transact 
businesses  which  concern  all,  I  conceive,  under  favor,  most 
suitable  to  rule,  and  most  safe  for  relief  of  the  whole.  This 
was  the  practice  of  the  Jewish  church,  and  the  approved  expe- 
rience of  the  best  ordered  states." 

From  this  seed  sprung  the  constitution  of  Connecticut,  first 
in  the  series  of  written  American  constitutions  framed  by  the 
people  for  the  people.  Reluctantly  leaving  Springfield  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  fourteenth  of  January, 
1639,  "the  inhabitants  and  residents  of  Windsor,  Hartford, 
and  Wethersfield,  associated  and  conjoined  to  be  as  one  public 
state  or  commonwealth."  The  supreme  power  was  intrusted 
to  a  general  court  composed  of  a  governor,  magistrates,  and 
deputies  from  the  several  towns,  all  freemen  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  all  chosen  by  ballot.  The  governor  was  further 
required  to  be  "  a  member  of  some  approved  congregation, 
and  "  to  have  been  "  formerly  of  the  magistracy ; "  nor  might 
the  same  person  be  chosen  to  that  office  oftener  than  once  in 
two  years.  The  governor  and  the  magistrates  were  chosen  by 
a  majority  of  the  whole  body  of  freemen ;  the  deputies  of  the 
towns,  by  all  who  had  been  admitted  inhabitants  of  them  and 
had  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity.  Each  of  the  three  towns  might 
send  four  deputies  to  every  general  court,  and  new  towns 
might  send  so  many  deputies  as  the  court  should  judge  to  be 
in  a  reasonable  proportion  to  the  number  of  freemen  in  the 
said  towns ;  so  that  the  representatives  might  form  a  general 
council,  chosen  by  all.  The  general  court  alone  had  power  to 
admit  a  freeman,  whose  qualifications  were  required  to  be  resi- 
dence within  the  jurisdiction  and  preceding  admission  as  an 
inhabitant  of  one  of  the  towns ;  that  is,  according  to  a  later 
interpretation,  a  householder.  By  the  oath  of  allegiance,  as  in 
Massachusetts,  every  freeman  must  swear  to  be  true  and  faith- 
ful to  the  government  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut ;  and 
of  no  other  sovereign  was  there  a  mention.  The  governor  was 
in  Hke  manner  sworn  "  to  maintain  all  lawful  privileges  of  this 
commonwealth,"  and  to  give  effect  "  to  all  wholesome  laws 
that  are,  or  shall  be,  made  by  lawful  authority  here  established." 
V 


1638-1639.     THE  COLONIZATION  OF   CONNECTICUT.  271 

The  oath  imposed  on  the  magistrates  bound  them  "  to  admin, 
ister  justice  according  to  the  laws  here  established,  and  for 
want  thereof  according  to  the  word  of  God."  The  amendment 
of  the  fundamental  orders  rested  with  the  freemen  in  general 
court  assembled.  All  power  proceeded  from  the  people. 
From  the  beginning,  Connecticut  was  a  republic,  and  was  in 
fact  independent. 

More  than  two  centuries  have  elapsed ;  but  the  people  of 
Connecticut  have  found  no  reason  to  deviate  essentially  from 
the  frame  of  government  established  by  their  fathers.  Equal 
laws  were  the  basis  of  their  commonwealth ;  and  therefore  its 
foundations  were  lasting.  These  unpretending  emigrants  in- 
vented an  admirable  system ;  for  they  were  near  to  N^ature, 
listened  willingly  to  her  voice,  and  easily  copied  her  forms. 
No  ancient  usages,  no  hereditary  differences  of  ranj?:,  no  estab- 
lished interests,  impeded  the  application  of  the  principles  of 
justice.  Freedom  springs  spontaneously  into  life;  the  arti- 
ficial distinctions  of  society  require  centuries  to  ripen.  His- 
tory has  ever  celebrated  the  heroes  who  have  won  laurels  in 
scenes  of  carnage.  Has  it  no  place  for  the  wise  legislators, 
who  struck  the  rock  in  the  wilderness,  so  that  the  waters  of 
liberty  gushed  forth  in  copious  and  perennial  streams?  They 
who  judge  of  men  by  their  services  to  the  human  race  will 
never  cease  to  honor  the  memory  of  Hooker,  and  will  join 
with  it  that  of  Ludlow,  and  still  more  that  of  Haynes. 

In  equal  independence,  a  Puritan  colony  sprang  up  at  N'ew 
Haven,  under  the  guidance  of  John  Davenport  as  its  pastor, 
and  of  his  friend,  the  excellent  Theophilus  Eaton.  Its  forms 
were  austere,  unmixed  Calvinism ;  but  the  spirit  of  humanity 
sheltered  itself  under  the  rough  exterior.  In  April,  1638,  the 
colonists  held  their  first  gathering  under  a  branching  oak. 
Beneath  the  leafless  tree  the  little  flock  was  taught  by  Daven- 
port that,  like  the  Son  of  man,  they  were  led  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  be  tempted.  After  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  they 
rested  their  first  frame  of  government  on  a  simple  plantation 
covenant,  that  "  all  of  them  would  be  ordered  by  the  rules 
which  the  scriptures  held  forth  to  them."  A  title  to  lands 
was  obtained  by  a  treaty  with  the  natives,  whom  they  pro- 
tected against  the  Mohawks.     When,  after  more  than  a  year, 


272  EISTGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xvl 

the  free  planters  of  the  colony  desired  a  more  perfect  form  of 
government,  the  followers  of  Him  who  was  laid  in  a  manger 
held  their  constituent  assembly  in  a  barn.  There,  by  the  in- 
fluence of  Davenport,  it  was  resolved  that  the  scriptures  are 
the  perfect  rule  of  a  commonwealth ;  that  the  purity  and 
peace  of  the  ordinances  to  themselves  and  their  posterity  were 
the  great  end  of  civil  order ;  and  that  church  members  only 
should  be  free  burgesses.  A  committee  of  twelve  was  selected 
to  choose  seven  men,  qualified  for  the  foundation-work  of  or- 
ganizing the  government.  Eaton,  Davenport,  and  ^ve  others, 
were  ''  the  seven  pillars  "  for  the  new  House  of  Wisdom  in 
the  wilderness. 

In  August  1639,  the  seven  met  together.  Abrogating  every 
previous  executive  trust,  they  admitted  to  the  court  all  church 
members ;  .the  character  of  civil  magistrates  was  next  ex- 
pounded "  from  the  sacred  oracles ;  "  and  the  election  followed. 
Then  Davenport,  in  the  words  of  Moses  to  Israel  in  the  wil- 
derness, gave  a  charge  to  the  governor  to  judge  righteously ; 
"  the  cause  that  is  too  hard  for  you,"  such  was  part  of  the  min- 
ister's text,  "  bring  it  unto  me,  and  I  will  hear  it."  Annual 
elections  were  ordered ;  and  God's  word  established  as  the 
only  rule  in  public  affairs.  Eaton,  one  of  the  most  opulent  of 
the  comers  to  'New  England,  was  annually  elected  governor 
for  near  twenty  years,  till  his  death.  All  agree  that  he  con- 
ducted public  affairs  with  unfailing  discretion  and  equity ;  in 
private  life,  he  joined  the  stoicism  of  the  Puritan  to  innate 
I)enevolence  and  mildness. 

New  Haven  made  the  Bible  its  statute-book,  and  the  elect 
its  freemen.  As  neighboring  towns  were  planted,  each  con- 
stituted itself  a  house  of  wisdom,  resting  on  its  seven  pillars, 
and  aspiring  to  be  illumined  by  the  eternal  light.  The  colo- 
nists prepared  for  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  which  they 
confidently  expected.  Meantime,  their  pleasant  villages  spread 
along  the  Sound  and  on  the  opposite  shore  of  Long  Island, 
and  for  years  they  nursed  the  hope  of  "speedily  planting 
Delaware." 


16S3-1635.    THE  PRELATES  AND   MASSACHUSETTS.  273 


CHAPTEE  XYIL 

THE   PRELATES    AND   MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  prohibition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  at  Salem 
produced  an  early  harvest  of  implacable  enemies  to  the  colony. 
Pesentment  rankled  in  the  minds  of  some,  whom  Endecott 
had  perhaps  too  passionately  punished ;  and  Mason  and 
Gorges  persistently  kept  alive  their  vindictive  complaints.  A 
petition  even  reached  King  Charles,  complaining  of  distrac- 
tion and  disorder  in  the  plantations ;  but  Massachusetts  was 
ably  defended  by  Saltonstall,  Humphrey,  and  Cradock,  its 
friends  in  England ;  and,  in  January,  1633,  the  committee  of 
the  privy  council  ordered  the  adventurers  to  continue  their 
undertakings  cheerfully,  for  the  king  did  not  design  to  impose 
on  the  people  of  Massachusetts  the  ceremonies  which  they  had 
emigrated  to  avoid.  The  country,  it  was  believed,  would  in 
time  be  very  beneficial  to  England. 

After  the  charter  had  been  carried  over  to  America,  the 
progress  of  these  earliest  settlements  was  watched  in  the  moth- 
er country  with  the  most  glowing  interest.  A  letter  from 
New  England  was  venerated  "  as  a  sacred  script  or  as  a  writing 
of  some  holy  prophet,  and  was  carried  many  miles,  where 
divers  came  to  hear  it."  Voices  from  the  churches  of  Massa- 
chusetts prevailed  with  their  persecuted  friends  in  Old  Eng- 
land till  "  the  departure  of  so  many  of  the  best,  such  num- 
bers of  faithful  and  free-born  Englishmen  and  good  Chris- 
tians," seemed  to  the  serious  minded  "  an  ill-boding  sign  to 
the  nation,"  and  began  to  effray  the  Episcopal  party.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1634,  ships  bound  with  passengers  for  'New  England 
were  detained  in  the  Thames  by  an  order  of  the  council. 

But  the  change  reached  farther.     The  archbishops  could 


274  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     pabt  i.  ;  ch.  xvii. 

complain  that  not  only  was  the  religious  system  which  was 
forbidden  by  the  laws  of  the  realm  established  in  the  new  col- 
ony in  America,  but  the  service  established  by  law  in  England 
was  prohibited.  Proof  was  produced  of  marriages  celebrated 
by  civil  magistrates,  and  of  an  established  system  of  church 
discipline  which  was  at  variance  with  the  laws  of  England. 
The  superintendence  of  the  colonies  was,  therefore,  in  April, 
1634,  removed  from  the  privy  council  to  an  arbitrary  special 
commission,  of  which  William  Laud,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  the  archbishop  of  York,  were  the  chief.  These,  with  ten 
of  the  highest  officers  of  state,  were  invested  with  full  power 
to  make  laws  and  orders  for  the  government  of  English  colo- 
nies planted  in  foreign  parts,  to  appoint  judges  and  magistrates 
and  establish  courts  for  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  to  regu- 
late the  church,  to  impose  penalties  and  imprisonment  for 
offences  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  to  remove  governors  and  re- 
quire an  account  of  their  government,  to  determine  all  appeals 
from  the  colonies,  and  to  revoke  all  charters  and  patents  which 
had  been  surreptitiously  obtained,  or  which  conceded  liberties 
prejudicial  to  the  royal  prerogative. 

Cradock,  who  had  been  governor  of  the  corporation  in 
England  before  the  transfer  of  the  charter  of  Massachusetts, 
was  strictly  charged  to  deliver  it  up ;  and  he  wrote  to  the 
governor  and  council  to  send  it  home.  Upon  receipt  of  his 
letter,  they  resolved  "  not  to  return  any  answer  or  excuse  at 
that  time."  In  September,  a  copy  of  the  commission  to  Arch- 
bishop Laud  and  his  associates  was  brought  to  Boston ;  and  it 
was  at  the  same  time  rumored  that  the  colonists  were  to  be 
compelled  by  force  to  accept  a  new  governor,  the  discipline  of 
the  church  of  England,  and  ^e  laws  of  the  commissioners. 
The  intelligence  awakened  "  the  magistrates  and  deputies  to 
discover  their  minds  each  to  other,  and  to  hasten  their  fortifi- 
cations," toward  which,  poor  as  was  the  colony,  six  hundred 
pounds  were  raised. 

In  January,  1635,  all  the  ministers  assembled  at  Boston ; 
and  they  unanimously  declared  against  the  reception  of  a  gen- 
eral governor,  saying ;  "  We  ought  to  defend  our  lawful  pos- 
sessions, if  we  are  able ;  if  not,  to  avoid  and  protract." 

In  the  month  before  this  declaration,  it  is  not  strange  that 


1634-1637.    THE  PRELATES   AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  275 

Laud  and  liis  associates  should  have  esteemed  the  inhabitants 
of  Massachusetts  to  be  men  of  refractory  humors ;  complaints 
resounded  of  parties  consenting  in  nothing  but  hostility  to  the 
church  of  England ;  of  designs  to  shake  off  the  royal  jurisdic- 
tion. Restraints  were  placed  upon  emigration ;  no  one  above 
the  rank  of  a  serving  man  might  remove  to  the  colony  with- 
out the  special  leave  of  Laud  and  his  associates ;  and  persons 
of  inferior  order  were  required  tq  take  the  oaths  of  suprem- 
acy and  allegiance,  of  obedience  to  the  church  of  England,  as 
well  as  fidelity  to  its  king. 

Willingly  as  these  acts  were  enforced  by  religious  bigotry, 
they  were  promoted  by  another  cause.  A  change  had  come 
over  the  character  of  the  great  Plymouth  council  for  the  col- 
onization of  JS^ew  England,  which  had  already  made  grants 
of  all  the  lands  from  the  Penobscot  to  Long  Island.  The 
members  of  the  company  desired  as  individuals  to  become 
the  proprietaries  of  extensive  territories,  even  at  the  dishonor 
of  invalidating  all  their  grants  as  a  corporation.  A  meeting 
of  the  lords  was  convened  in  April,  1635  ;  and  the  coast,  from 
Acadia  to  beyond  the  Hudson,  was  divided  into  shares,  and 
distributed  among  them  by  lots. 

To  the  possession  of  their  prizes  the  inflexible  colony  of 
Massachusetts  formed  an  obstacle,  which  they  hoped  to  over- 
come by  surrendering  their  general  patent  for  New  England 
to  the  king.  To  obtain  of  him  a  confirmation  of  their  respec- 
tive grants,  they  set  forth  "  that  the  Massachusetts  patentees, 
having  surreptitiously  obtained  from  the  crown  a  confirmation 
of  their  grant  of  the  soil,  had  made  themselves  a  free  people, 
and  for  such  hold  themselves  at  present ;  framing  unto  them- 
selves new  conceits  of  religion  and  new  forms  of  ecclesiastical 
and  temporal  government,  punishing  divers  that  would  not 
approve  thereof,  under  other  pretences  indeed,  yet  for  no 
other  cause  save  only  to  make  themselves  absolute  masters  of 
the  country,  and  uncontrollable  in  their  new  laws." 

At  the  Trinity  term  of  the  court  of  king's  bench,  a  quo 
warranto  was  brought  against  the  company  of  the  Massachu- 
setts bay.  At  the  ensuing  Michaelmas,  several  of  its  mem- 
bers who  resided  in  England  made  their  appearance,  and  judg- 
ment was  pronounced  against  them  individually ;  the  rest  of 


276  ENGLISH  PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xvii. 

the  patentees  stood  outlawed,  but  no  judgment  was  entered 
against  them.  The  unexpected  death  of  Mason,  the  propri- 
etary of  JS^ew  Hampshire,  in  December,  1635,  removed  the 
chief  instigator  of  these  aggressions. 

In  July,  1637,  the  king,  professing  "to  redress  the  mis- 
chiefs that  had  arisen  oat  of  the  many  different  humours,"  took 
the  government  of  New  England  into  his  own  hands,  and  ap- 
pointed over  it  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  as  governor-general, 
upon  whose  "  gravity,  moderation,  and  experience,"  some  hope 
of  introducing  a  new  system  was  reposed.  But  the  measure 
was  feeble  and  ineffectual.  While  Gorges  in  England  sided 
with  the  adversaries  of  Massachusetts,  he  avoided  all  direct 
collision  with  its  people,  pretending  by  his  letters  and  speeches 
to  seek  their  welfare ;  he  never  left  England,  and  was  hardly 
heard  of  except  by  petitions  to  its  government.  Attempting 
great  matters  and  incurring  large  expenses,  he  lost  all.  The 
royal  grant  of  extended  territory  in  Maine  was  never  of  any 
avail  to  him. 

Persecution  in  England  gave  strength  to  the  Puritan  col- 
ony. The  severe  censures  in  the  star-chamber,  the  greatness 
of  the  fines  which  avarice  rivalled  bigotry  in  imposing,  the 
rigorous  proceedings  with  regard  to  ceremonies,  the  suspend- 
ing and  silencing  of  multitudes  of  ministers,  continued ;  and 
men  were  "  enforced  by  heaps  to  desert  their  native  country. 
E^othing  but  the  wide  ocean  and  the  savage  deserts  of  America 
could  hide  and  shelter  them  from  the  fury  of  the  bishops." 
The  pillory  had  become  the  scene  of  human  agony  and  muti- 
lation, as  an  ordinary  punishmeut ;  and  the  friends  of  Laud 
jested  on  the  sufferings  which  were  to  cure  the  obduracy  of 
fanatics.  "  The  very  genius  of  that  nation  of  people,"  said 
Wentworth,  "  leads  them  always  to  oppose,  both  civilly  and 
ecclesiastically,  all  that  ever  authority  ordains  for  them." 
They  were  provoked  to  the  Indiscretion  of  a  complaint,  and 
then  involved  in  a  persecution.  They  were  imprisoned  and 
scourged ;  their  noses  were  slit ;  their  ears  were  cut  off ;  their 
cheeks  were  marked  with  a  red-hot  brand.  But  the  lash  and 
the  shears  and  the  glowing  iron  could  not  destroy  principles 
which  were  rooted  in  the  soul,  and  which  danger  made  it 
glorious  to  profess.    The  injured  party  even  learned  to  despise 


1637-1638.    THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  277 

the  mercy  of  their  oppressors.  Four  years  after  Prynne  had 
been  punished  for  a  publication,  he  was  a  second  time  ar- 
raigned for  a  like  offence.  "I  thought,"  said  Lord  Finch, 
"  that  Prynne  had  lost  his  ears  already  ;  but,"  added  he,  look- 
ing at  the  prisoner,  "  there  is  something  left  yet ; "  and  an 
officer  of  the  court,  removing  the  hair,  displayed  the  mutilated 
organs.  A  crowd  gathered  round  the  scaffold  where  Prynne 
and  Bastwick  and  Burton  were  to  suffer  maim.  "  Christians," 
said  Prynne,  "  stand  fast ;  be  faithful  to  God  and  your  coun- 
try ;  or  you  bring  on  yourselves  and  your  children  perpetual 
slavery."  The  dungeon,  the  pillory,  and  the  scaffold  were 
stages  in  the  progress  of  civil  liberty  toward  its  triumph. 

There  was  a  period  when  the  ministry  of  Charles  feared 
no  dangerous  resistance  in  England  ;  and  the  attempts  to  over- 
ride the  rights  of  parliament  by  monarchical  power  were  ac- 
companied by  analogous  movements  against  New  England,  of 
whose  colonists  a  correspondent  of  Laud  reported,  "  that  they 
aimed  not  at  new  discipline,  but  at  sovereignty ;  that  it  was 
accounted  treason  in  their  general  court  to  speak  of  appeals  to 
the  king." 

The  Puritans,  hemmed  in  by  dangers  on  every  side,  and 
having  no  immediate  prospect  of  success  at  home,  desired  at 
any  rate  to  escape  from  their  native  country.  "  To  restrain 
the  transportation  to  the  colonies  of  subjects  whose  principal 
end  was  to  live  as  much  as  they  could  without  the  reach  of 
authority,"  one  proclamation  succeeded  another.  On  the  first 
day  of  May,  1638,  the  privy  council  interfered  to  stay  a  squad- 
ron of  eight  ships,  which  were  in  the  Thames,  preparing  to 
embark  for  New  England.  It  has  been  said  that  Hampden  and 
Cromwell  were  on  board  this  fleet.  The  English  ministry  of 
that  day  might  willingly  have  exiled  Hampden,  who  was  at  that 
very  time  engaged  in  resisting  the  levy  of  ship-money  ;  no  origi- 
nal authors,  except  royalists  writing  on  hearsay,  allude  to  the 
design  imputed  to  him  ;  in  America  there  exists  no  evidence 
of  his  expected  arrival ;  the  remark  of  the  historian  Hutchin- 
son refers  to  the  well-known  schemes  of  Lord  Say  and  Seal 
and  Lord  Brooke.  There  came  over,  during  this  summer, 
twenty  ships,  and  at  least  three  thousand  persons ;  and,  had 
Hampden  designed  to  emigrate,  he  possessed  energy  enough 


278  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xvil 

to  have  accomplished  his  purpose.  He  undoubtedly  had 
watched  with  deep  interest  the  progress  of  Massachusetts; 
The  "  Conclusions  "  had  early  attracted  his  attention ;  and,  in 
1631,  he  had  taken  part  in  a  purchase  of  territory  on  the  Nar- 
ragansett ;  but  the  greatest  patriot  statesmen  of  his  times,  the 
man  whom  Charles  I.  would  gladly  have  seen  drawn  and 
quartered,  whom  Clarendon  paints  as  possessing  beyond  all 
his  contemporaries  "  a  head  to  contrive,  a  tongue  to  persuade, 
and  a  hand  to  execute,"  and  whom  Baxter  revered  as  able,  by 
his  presence  and  conversation,  to  give  a  new  charm  to  the  rest 
of  the  saints  in  Heaven,  never  embarked  for  America.  The 
fleet  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  taken  his  passage  was  de- 
layed but  a  few  days ;  on  petition  of  the  owners  and  passen- 
gers. King  Charles  removed  the  restraint ;  the  ships  proceeded 
on  their  voyage ;  and  the  company  arrived  in  the  bay  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. Had  Hampden  and  Cromwell  been  of  the  party, 
they  would  have  reached  New  England. 

Twenty-six  days  before  this  attempt  to  stay  emigration,  the 
lords  of  the  council  had  written  to  Winthrop,  recalling  to 
mind  the  former  proceedings  by  a  quo  warranto,  and  demand- 
ing the  return  of  the  patent.  In  case  of  refusal,  it  was  added, 
the  king  would  assume  into  his  own  hands  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  plantation. 

But  "  David  in  exile  could  more  safely  expostulate  with 
Saul  for  the  vast  space  between  them."  The  colonists,  on  the 
sixth  of  September,  without  desponding,  demanded  a  trial 
before  condemnation.  They  urged  that  the  recall  of  the  patent 
would  be  a  manifest  breach  of  faith,  pregnant  with  evils  to 
themselves  and  their  neighbors  ;  that  it  would  strengthen  the 
plantations  of  the  French  and  the  Dutch ;  that  it  would  dis- 
courage all  future  attempts  at  colonial  enterprise  ;  and,  finally, 
^'  if  the  patent  be  taken  from  us,"  such  was  their  remonstrance, 
"  the  common  people  will  conceive  that  his  majesty  has  cast 
them  off,  and  that  hereby  they  are  freed  from  their  allegiance 
and  subjection,  and  therefore  will  be  ready  to  confederate 
themselves  under  a  new  government  for  their  necessary  safety 
and  subsistence,  which  will  be  of  dangerous  example  unto 
other  plantations,  and  perilous  to  ourselves  of  incurring  his 
majesty's  displeasure." 


1637-1640.     THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  279 

"What  liberal  Englisli  statesmen  thought  of  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  we  know  from  D'Ewes,  who  wrote  :  "All  men 
whom  malice  blindeth  not,  nor  impiety  transverseth,  may  see 
that  the  very  finger  of  God  hath  hitherto  gone  with  them  and 
guided  them."  On  the  other  hand,  the  government  of  Charles 
were  of  the  opinion  that  "  all  corporations,  as  is  found  by  expe- 
rience in  the  corporation  of  New  England,  are  refractory  to 
monarchical  government  and  endeavor  to  poison  a  plantation 
with  factious  spirits." 

Before  the  supplication  of  the  colony  was  made,  the  mon- 
arch was  himself  involved  in  disasters.  Anticipating  success 
in  his  tyranny  in  England,  with  headlong  indiscretion,  he 
insisted  on  introducing  a  liturgy  into  Scotland,  and  compelling 
the  uncompromising  disciples  of  Knox  to  listen  to  prayers 
translated  from  the  Roman  missal.  In  July,  1637,  the  first 
attempt  at  reading  the  new  service  in  the  cathedral  of  Edin- 
burgh was  the  signal  for  that  series  of  events  which  promised 
to  restore  liberty  to  England  and  give  peace  to  the  colonies. 
The  movement  began,  as  great  revolutions  almost  always  do, 
from  the  ranks  of  the  people.  The  nobles  of  Scotland  take 
advantage  of  the  anger  of  the  people  to  promote  their  ambi- 
tion. In  the  next  year  the  national  covenant  is  published, 
and  is  signed  by  the  Scottish  nation,  almost  without  distinc- 
tion of  rank  or  sex;  the  defences  of  despotism  are  broken 
down ;  the  flood  washes  away  every  vestige  of  Anglican  eccle- 
siastical oppression.  Scotland  rises  in  arms  for  a  holy  war, 
and  enlists  -religious  enthusiasm  under  its  banner  in  its  contest 
against  a  despot,  who  has  neither  a  regular  treasury,  nor  an 
army,  nor  the  confidence  of  his  people.  The  wisest  of  his 
subjects  esteem  the  insurgents  as  their  friends  and  allies. 
There  is  now  no  time  to  oppress  New  England ;  the  throne 
itself  totters :  there  is  no  need  to  forbid  emigration  ;  fiery 
spirits,  who  had  fled  for  a  refuge  to  the  colonies,  rush  back  to 
share  in  the  open  struggle  of  England  for  liberty.  In  the 
following  years  the  reformation  of  church  and  state,  the  at- 
tainder of  Strafford,  the  impeachment  of  Laud,  caused  all  men 
to  stay  at  home  in  expectation  of  a  new  world. 

Yet  a  nation  was  already  planted  in  New  England  ;  a  com- 
monwealth was  ripened ;  the  contests  in  which  the  unfortunate 


280  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   m  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  ch.  xvii. 

Charles  became  engaged,  and  the  republican  revolution  that 
followed,  left  the  colonists,  for  twenty  years,  nearly  unmo- 
lested in  the  enjoyment  of  virtual  independence.  The  change 
which  their  industry  had  wrought  in  the  wilderness  was  the 
admiration  of  their  times.  The  wigwams  and  hovels  in  which 
the  English  had  at  first  found  shelter  were  replaced  by  well- 
built  houses.  The  number  of  emigrants  who  had  arrived  in 
New  England  before  the  assembling  of  the  Long  Parliament 
is  esteemed  to  have  been  twenty-one  thousand  two  hundred. 
Two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  ships  had  borne  them  across 
the  Atlantic ;  and  the  cost  of  the  plantations  had  been  almost 
a  million  of  dollars — a  great  expenditure  and  a  great  emigra- 
tion for  that  age.  In  a  little  more  than  ten  years,  fifty  towns 
and  villages  had  been  planted;  between  thirty  and  forty 
churches  built ;  and  strangers,^  as  they  gazed,  could  not  but 
acknowledge  God's  blessing  on  the  endeavors  of  the  planters. 
A  public  school,  for  which,  on  the  eighth  of  September,  1636, 
the  general  court  made  provision,  was,  in  the  next  year,  estab- 
lished at  Cambridge ;  and  when,  in  1638,  John  Harvard,  a 
church  member  of  Charlestown,  where  he  was  "  sometimes  min- 
ister of  God's  word,"  dying  in  the  second  year  of  his  residence, 
bequeathed  to  it  his  library  and  half  his  fortune,  it  was  named 
Hakvabd  College.  "  To  complete  the  colony  in  church  and 
commonwealth  work,"  Jose  Glover,  a  worthy  minister,  "  able 
in  estate,"  and  of  a  liberal  spirit,  in  that  same  year  embarked 
for  Boston  with  fonts  of  letters  for  printing,  and  a  printer. 
He  died  on  the  passage ;  but,  in  1639,  Stephen  Daye,  the 
printer,  printed  the  Freeman's  Oath,  and  an  almanac  calculated 
for  'New  England  ;  and,  in  1640,  "  for  the  edification  and  com- 
fort of  the  saints,"  the  Psalms,  faithfully  but  rudely  translated 
in  metre  from  the  Hebrew  by  Thomas  Welde  and  John  Eliot, . 
ministers  of  Roxbury,  assisted  by  Pichard  Mather,  minister  of 
Dorchester,  were  published  in  a  volume  of  three  hundred 
octavo  pages.  This  was  the  first  book  printed  in  America 
north  of  the  city  of  Mexico. 

In  temporal  affairs,  affluence  came  in  the  train  of  industry. 
The  natural  exports  of  the  country  were  furs  and  lumber; 
grain  was  carried  to  the  West  Indies  ;  fish  was  a  staple.  The 
art  of  ship-building  was  introduced  with  the  first  emigrants 


1640-1641.    THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  281 

to  Salem ;  but  "  Wintlirop  had  with  him  William  Stephens,  a 
shipwright,  who  had  been  preparing  to  go  for  Spain,  and  who 
would  have  been  as  a  precious  jewel  to  any  state  that  obtained 
him."  He  had  built  in  England  many  ships  of  great  burden, 
one  even  of  six  hundred  tons,  and  he  was  "  so  able  a  man  that  , 
there  was  hardly  such  another  to  be  found  in  the  kingdom." 
In  'New  England  he  lived  with  great  content,  where,  from  the 
time  of  his  arrival,  ship-building  was  carried  on  with  surpass- 
ing skill,  so  that  vessels  were  soon  constructed  of  four  hundred 
tons.  So  long  as  the  ports  were  thronged  with  new-comers, 
the  older  settlers  found  full  employment  in  supplying  their,? 
wants.  But  now  "  men  began  to  look  about  them,  and  fell  t6 
a  manufacture  of  cotton,  whereof  they  had  store  from  Barbar 
does."  In  view  of  the  exigency,  "  the  general  court  made 
order  for  the  manufacture  of  woollen  and  linen  cloth."  •* 

"  Upon  the  great  liberty  which  the  king  had  left  the  par- 
liament in  England"  that  first  met  in  1641,  "som-e  of  our 
friends  there,"  says  Winthrop,  "  wrote  to  us  advice  to  solicit 
for  us  in  the  parliament,  giving  us  hope  that  we  might  obtain 
much.  But,  consulting  about  it,  we  declined  the  motion  for 
this  consideration,  that,  if  we  should  put  ourselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  parliament,  we  must  then  be  subject  to  all 
such  laws  as  they  should  make,  or,  at  least,  such  as  they  might 
impose  upon  us.  It  might  prove  very  prejudicial  to  us." 
When  the  letters  arrived,  inviting  the  colonial  churches  to 
send  their  deputies  to  the  Westminster  assembly  of  divines, 
the  same  sagacity  led  them  to  neglect  the  summons.  Espe- 
cially Hooker,  of  Hartford,  "liked  not  the  business,"  and 
deemed  it  his  duty  rather  to  stay  in  quiet  and  obscurity  with 
his  people  in  Connecticut  than  to  go  three  thousand  miles  to 
plead  for  independency  with  Presbyterians  in  England.  Yet 
such  commercial  advantages  were  desired  as  might  be  ob- 
tained without  a  surrender  of  chartered  rights.  In  1641,  the 
general  court  "  sent  three  chosen  men  into  England  to  con- 
gratulate the  happy  success  there,  and  to  be  ready  to  make 
use  of  any  opportunity  God  should  offer  for  the  good  of  the 
country  here,  as  also  to  give  any  advice,  as  it  should  be  re- 
quired, for  the  settling  of  the  right  form  of  church  discipline 
there."     Of  these  agents,  Hugh  Peter  was  one. 

VOL.  I. — 20 


282  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xvn. 

The  security  enjoyed  by  'New  England  presented  the  long 
desired  opportunity  of  establishing  a  "  body  of  liberties  "  as  a 
written  constitution  of  government.  In  the  absence  of  a  code 
of  laws,  the  people  had  for  several  years  continued  to  be  un- 
easy at  the  extent  of  power  that  rested  in  the  discretion  of  the 
magistrates.  On  the  other  hand,  most  of  the  magistrates  and 
some  of  the  elders,  thinking  that  the  fittest  laws  would  arise 
upon  occasions,  and  gain  validity  as  customs,  and,  moreover, 
fearing  that  their  usages,  if  established  as  regular  statutes, 
might  be  censured  by  their  enemies  as  repugnant  to  the  laws 
of  England,  "had  not  been  yerj  forward  in  this  matter." 
Now  that  some  of  the  causes  of  apprehension  existed  no 
longer,  the  great  work  of  constitutional  legislation  was  re- 
sumed ;  and,  in  December,  1641,  a  session  of  three  weeks 
was  employed  in  considering  a  system  which  had  been  pre- 
pared chiefly  by  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich.  He  had  been 
formerly  a  student  and  practiser  in  the  courts  of  common 
law  in  England,  but  became  a  non-conforming  minister ;  so 
that  he  was  competent  to  combine  the  humane  principles  of 
the  common  law  with  those  of  natural  right  and  equality,  as 
deduced  from  the  Bible.  After  mature  deliberation,  his 
"  model,"  which  for  liberality  and  comprehensiveness  may  vie 
with  any  similar  record  from  the  days  of  Magna  Charta,  was 
adopted  as  "  the  body  of  liberties "  of  the  Massachusetts 
colony. 

AH  the  general  ofiicers  of  the  jurisdiction,  including  gov- 
ernor, deputy  governor,  treasurer,  assistants,  military  com- 
mander, and  admiral,  if  there  should  be  a  naval  force,  were  to 
he  chosen  annually  by  the  freemen  of  the  plantation,  and  paid 
from  the  common  treasury.  The  freemen  in  the  several  towns 
were  to  choose  deputies  from  among  themselves ;  or,  "  to  the 
end  the  ablest  gifted  men  might  be  made  use  of  in  so  weighty 
a  work,"  they  might  select  them  elsewhere  as  they  judged 
fittest ;  the  deputies  were  to  be  paid  from  the  treasury  of  their 
respective  towns,  and  to  serve  "  at  the  most  but  one  year ;  that 
the  country  may  have  an  annual  liberty  to  do  in  that  case  what 
is  most  behooveful  for  the  best  welfare  thereof."  No  general 
assembly  could  be  dissolved  or  adjourned  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  major  part  thereof.     The  freemen  of  every  town 


M41.  THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  283 

had  power  to  make  such  by-laws  and  constitutions  as  might 
concern  the  welfare  of  the  town,  provided  thej  be  not  of  a 
criminal  nature,  nor  repugnant  to  the  public  laws  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and  that  their  penalties  exceed  not  twenty  shillings  for 
one  offence.  They  had  power  to  choose  yearly  selectmen  "  to 
order  the  prudential  occasions  of  the  town  according  to  in- 
structions to  be  given  them  in  writing." 

Life,  honor,  and  personal  liberty  and  estate  were  placed 
under  the  perpetual  protection  of  law.  To  every  person, 
whether  inhabitant  or  foreigner,  was  promised  equal  justice  \ 
without  partiality  or  delay.  Every  man,  whether  inhabitant  \ 
or  foreigner,  free  or  not  free — that  is,  whether  admitted  as  a 
member  of  the  general  court  of  the  freemen  under  the  char- 
ter or  not — had  the  liberty  to  come  to  any  court,  council,  or  ' 
town-meeting,  and  there  to  move  any  question  or  present  any 
petition,  either  by  speech  or  writing.  Every  officer  exercising 
judicial  authority  was  annually  elected ;  the  assistants  by  the 
freemen  of  the  whole  plantation ;  the  associates  to  assist  the 
assistants  in  any  inferior  court,  by  the  towns  belonging  to  that 
court ;  and  all  jurors,  by  the  freemen  of  the  town  where  they 
dwelt.  Judicial  proceedings  were  simplified ;  by  mutual  con- 
sent of  plaintiff  and  defendant,  actions  might  be  "tried,  at  their 
option,  by  the  bench  or  by  a  jury ;  and  in  criminal  trials  the 
like  choice  was  granted  to  the  accused. 

Every  incident  of  feudal  tenure  that  would  have  been  a 
restraint  on  the  possession  and  transmission  of  real  estate  was 
utterly  forbidden ;  and  all  lands  and  heritages  were  declared 
free  and  alienable ;  so  that  the  land  of  a  child  under  age,  or  an 
idiot,  might,  with  the  consent  of  a  general  court,  be  conveyed 
away.  The  charter  had  indeed  reserved  to  the  king,  by  way 
of  rent,  one  fifth  of  the  gold  and  silver  that  might  be  mined ; 
but  this  was  a  mere  theoretical  feud,  resolving  itself  into  fealty 
alone.  In  Massachusetts,  all  the  land  was  allodial.  All  per- 
sons of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  even  the  excommunicate 
or  condemned,  had  full  power  to  alienate  their  lands  and  es- 
tates, and  to  make  their  wills  and  testaments.  Children  inher- 
ited equally  as  co-partners  the  property  of  intestate  parents, 
whether  real  or  personal,  except  that  to  the  first-bom  son, 
where  there  was  a  son,  a  double  portion  was  assigned,  unless 


284  EITGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.;  on.  xvn. 

the  general  court  should  judge  otherwise.  No  man  could  be 
compelled  to  go  out  of  the  limits  of  the  plantation  upon  any 
offensive  war.  To  every  man  within  the  jurisdiction,  free 
liberty  was  assured  to  remove  himself  and  his  family  at  their 
pleasure.  The  grant  of  monopolies  was  prohibited,  except  of 
new  inventions  profitable  to  the  country,  and  that  for  a  short 
time.  Every  married  woman  was  protected  against  bodily 
correction  or  stripes  by  her  husband,  and  had  redress  if  at  his 
death  he  should  not  leave  her  a  competent  portion  of  his  es- 
tate. As  to  foreign  nations  professing  the  true  Christian  re- 
ligion, all  fugitives  from  the  tyranny  or  oppression  of  their  per- 
secutors, or  from  famine  or  wars,  were  ordered  to  be  enter- 
tained according  to  that  power  and  prudence  that  God  should 
give ;  so  that  the  welcome  of  the  commonwealth  was  as  wide  as 
sorrow.  On  slavery  this  was  the  rule  :  "  There  shall  never  be 
any  bond  slaverie,  villinage,  or  captivitie  amongst  us,  unles  it 
be  lawfull  captives  taken  in  just  warres,  and  such  strangers  as 
willingly  selle  themselves  or  are  sold  to  us.  And  these  shall 
have  all  the  liberties  and  Christian  usages  which  the  law  of 
God  established  in  Israel  concerning  such  persons  doeth  mor- 
ally require.  This  exempts  none  from  servitude  who  shall  be 
judged  thereto  by  authoritie."  "  If  any  man  stealeth  a  man 
or  mankinde,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 

The  severity  of  the  Levitical  law  against  witchcraft,  blas- 
phemy, and  sins  against  nature,  was  retained  ;  otherwise,  death 
was  the  punishment  only  for  murder,  adultery,  man-stealing, 
and  false  witness  wittingly  to  take  away  any  man's  life.  In 
the  following  year,  rape  was  made  a  capital  crime. 

With  regard  to  the  concerns  of  religion,  all  the  people  of 
God  who  were  orthodox  in  judgment  and  not  scandalous  in 
life  had  full  liberty  to  gather  themselves  into  a  church  estate ; 
to  exercise  all  the  ordinances  of  God ;  and  from  time  to  time 
to  elect  and  ordain  all  their  officers,  provided  they  be  able, 
pious,  and  orthodox.  For  the  preventing  and  removing  of 
error,  ministers  and  elders  of  near  adjoining  churches  might 
hold  public  Christian  conference,  provided  that  nothing  be 
imposed  by  way  of  authority  by  one  or  more  churches  upon 
another,  but  only  by  way  of  brotherly  consultations. 

Such  were  the  most  important  of  the  liberties  and  laws. 


1641.  THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  285 

established  at  the  end  of  1641,  for  the  government  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Embracing  the  freedom  of  the  commonwealth,  of 
municipahties,  of  persons,  and  of  churches  according  to  the 
principles  of  Congregationalism,  "the  body  of  liberties"  ex- 
hibits the  truest  picture  of  the  principles,  character,  and  inten- 
tions of  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  best  evidence  of 
its  vigor  and  self-dependence. 

In  its  main  features  it  only  gave  authority  to  the  customs 
of  the  colony.  The  public  teaching  of  all  children,  the  train- 
bands and  the  training-field,  the  town-meeting  and  the  meet- 
ing of  all  the  inhabitants  for  public  worship — these  essential 
elements  of  early  New  England  public  life  grew  out  of  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  people,  and,  as  it  were,  created 
the  laws  for  their  perpetuation. 

Do  we  seek  to  trace  the  New  England  town  to  its  origin  ? 
The  vital  principle  of  Teutonic  liberty  lies  in  the  immemorial 
usage  of  the  meeting  of  all  the  people  with  the  equal  right  of 
each  qualified  inhabitant  to  give  counsel  and  to  vote  on  public 
alfairs.  The  usage  still  exists,  nearly  in  its  pristine  purity,  in 
some  of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland ;  it  has  left  in  the  Teu- 
tonic race  a  profound  sense  of  the  need  of  local  self-govern- 
ment ;  in  England  it  is  the  formative  idea  of  its  parliament 
and  of  its  hundred,  and  in  some  narrow  measure  still  survives 
in  the  parish.  It  was  saved  in  many  English  towns  by  special 
agreement  with  their  rulers,  though  these  agreements  were 
warred  upon  and  essentially  changed  by  later  and  more  arbi- 
trary kings.  This  seminal  principle  of  English  liberty  took 
root  wherever  Englishmen  trod  the  soil  of  America.  The  first 
ordinance  for  the  constitution  of  Virginia  enumerated  the  di- 
visions of  towns,  hundreds,  and  plantations ;  but  there  the  sys- 
tem was  imperfectly  developed  from  the  scattered  mode  of 
life  of  the  planters  and  the  introduction  of  the  English  system 
of  parishes.  In  New  England  the  precious  seed  fell  on  the 
best  ground  for  its  quickening.  Each  company  of  settlers  as 
it  arrived,  or  as  it  divided  from  earlier  companies,  formed  a 
town,  which  at  once  began  as  by  right  with  taking  care  of  its 
own  concerns.  All  the  electors  met  annually,  and  more  often 
if  required.  They  might  at  any  time  be  called  together  to 
treat  of  any  subject  that  was  of  interest  to  them,  even  if  it 


286  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMEBIC  A.     paet  i.;  ch.  xvii. 

were  but  to  express  an  opinion.  When  business  became  too 
complicated  to  be  executed  in  the  public  assembly,  the  annual 
meeting  voted  what  should  be  done  in  the  year,  and  selected 
men  to  carry  out  their  votes.  When  the  annual  gathering  of 
all  the  freemen  of  the  corporation  gave  way  to  the  representa- 
tive system,  each  town  that  had  as  many  as  ten  freemen  might 
send  at  least  one  deputy  to  what  was  still  called  the  general 
court.  Thus  in  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  substantially  so  in 
all  the  E^ew  England  states,  the  commonwealth  was  made  up 
of  living,  integral  organizations,  in  which  the  people,  from  the 
beginning,  brought  themselves  up  to  be  members  of  the 
state,  and  to  take  their  share  in  public  life. 

In  these  early  days,  there  fell  under  the  control  of  the  sev- 
eral towns  two  subjects,  which  are  now  removed  from  them. 
The  minister,  without  whom  the  existence  of  a  town  could 
not  be  conceived  of,  was  chosen  in  open  town-meeting,  and 
received  his  support  according  to  the  contract  that  might  be 
made  between  him  and  the  people.  This  regulation  continued 
in  usage  in  some  of  the  interior  precincts  for  nearly  two  cen- 
turies. 

By  the  charter,  all  the  land  of  the  commonwealth  was 
granted  to  the  freemen  of  the  corporation;  but  they  never 
claimed  a  right  to  distributute  it  among  themselves,  nor  was 
a  permanent  community  of  property  in  it  ever  attempted  or 
designed.  As  the  rule,  the  land  within  the  limits  of  a  town 
was  granted  by  the  commonwealth  to  the  individuals  who 
were  to  plant  the  town,  not  in  perpetuity,  nor  in  equal  parts, 
but  to  be  distributed  among  the  inhabitants  according  to  their 
previous  agreements,  or  to  their  wants  and  just  expectations 
as  judged  of  by  the  towns  themselves.  Each  town  made  its 
own  rules  for  the  division  of  them.  It  was  usual  to  reserve  a 
large  part  of  the  town's  domain  for  such  persons  as  from  time 
to  time  were  yet  to  be  received  as  inhabitants;  and,  in  the 
mean  while,  rights  to  wood,  timber,  and  herbage,  in  the  undi- 
vided lands,  attached  to  all  householders. 

Soon  after  the  promulgation  of  its  "  liberties,"  the  territory 
of  Massachusetts  was  extended  to  the  Piscataqua,  for  which 
the  strict  interpretation  of  its  charter  offered  an  excuse.  The 
people  of  ]^ew  Hampshire  had  long  been  harassed  by  vexa- 


1641-1643.    THE  PRELATES  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  287 

tious  proprietary  claims ;  dreading  the  perils  of  anarchy,  they 
provided  a  remedy  for  the  evils  of  a  disputed  jurisdiction  by 
the  immediate  exercise  of  their  natural  rights  ;  and,  on  the 
fourteenth  of  April,  1642,  by  their  own  voluntary  act,  they 
were  annexed  to  their  powerful  neighbor,  not  as-  a  province, 
but  on  equal  terms,  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  state.  The 
change  was  effected  with  great  deliberation.  The  banks  of 
the  Piscataqua  had  not  been  peopled  by  Puritans;  and  the 
system  of  Massachusetts  could  not  properly  be  applied  to  the 
new  acquisitions.  In  September,  the  general  court  adopted 
the  measure  which  justice  recommended;  neither  the  freemen 
nor  the  deputies  of  IS^ew  Hampshire  were  required  to  be 
church  members.  Thus  political  harmony  was  maintained, 
though  the  settlements  long  retained  marks  of  the  difference 
of  their  origin. 

The  attempt  to  acquire  the  land  on  N^arragansett  bay  was 
less  deserving  of  success.  Samuel  Gorton,  a  benevolent  en- 
thusiast, who  used  to  say  heaven  was  not  a  place,  there  was 
no  heaven  but  in  the  hearts  of  good  men,  no  hell  but  in  the 
mind,  had  created  disturbances  in  tHe  district  of  "Warwick. 
In  1641,  a  minority  of  the  inhabitants,  wearied  with  harassing 
disputes,  requested  the  interference  of  the  magistrates  of  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  and  two  sachems  near  Providence  surrendered  the 
soil  to  the  jurisdiction  of  that  state.  Gorton  and  his  partisans 
did  not  disguise  their  scorn  for  the  colonial  clergy  ;  they  were 
advocates  for  liberty  of  conscience,  and  at  the  same  time,  hav- 
ing no  hope  of  protection  except  from  England,  they  were,  by 
their  position,  enemies  to  colonial  independence ;  they  denied 
the  authority  of  the  magistrates  of  Massachusetts,  not  only  on 
the  soil  of  Warwick,  but  everywhere,  inasmuch  as^it  was 
tainted  by  a  want  of  true  allegiance.  Such  opinions,  if  car- 
ried into  effect,  would  have  subverted  the  liberties  of  Massa- 
chusetts, as  well  as  its  ecclesiastical  system,  and  were  therefore 
by  a  few  thought  worthy  of  death ;  but  a  small  majority  of 
the  deputies,  in  1643,  was  more  merciful,  and  Gorton  and  his 
associates  were  imprisoned.  The  people  murmured  even  at 
this  less  degree  of  severity,  and  the  imprisoned  men  were 
soon  set  at  liberty ;  but  the  claim  to  the  territory  was  not  im- 
mediately abandoned. 


288  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMEPJCA.     part  i.  ;  oh.  xyii. 

In  May,  16  i3,  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  received 
an  official  copy  of  the  order  of  the  house  of  commons  of  the 
tenth  of  March  of  that  year,  in  which  it  was  acknowledged 
that  "  the  plantations  in  'New  England  had,  by  the  blessing  of 
the  Almighty,  had  good  and  prosperous  success,  without  any 
public  charge  to  the  parent  state  ;  "  and  their  imports  and  ex- 
ports were  freed  from  all  taxation  "  until  the  house  of  com- 
mons should  take  order  to  the  contrary."  The  ordinance  was 
thankfully  acknowledged,  and  "entered  among  their  public 
records  to  remain  there  to  posterity."  At  the  same  time  the 
governor  was  directed  in  his  oath  of  office  to  oniit  to  swear 
allegiance  to  King  Charles,  "  seeing  that  he  had  violated  the 
privileges  of  parliament  and  had  made  war  upon  them." 


1637-1642.  THE  UNITED   COLONIES   OF  NEW  ENGLAND.    289 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

THE   UNITED    COLONIES    OF    NEW    ENGLAND. 

The  enlargement  of  the  dominion  of  Massachusetts  was, 
in  part,  a  result  of  the  virtual  independence  which  the  com- 
motions in  the  mother  country  had  secured  to  the  colonies. 
The  UNION  of  the  Calvinist  states  of  New  England  was  a  still 
more  important  measure.  In  August,  1 637,  immediately  after 
the  victories  over  the  Pequods,  and  before  New  Haven  was 
planted,  at  a  time  when  the  earliest  synod  of  New  England 
ministers  had  gathered  in  Boston,  a  day  of  meeting  was  ap- 
pointed, at  the  request  of  the  leading  magistrates  and  elders  of 
Connecticut,  to  agree  upon  articles  of  confederation,  and  notice 
was  given  to  Plymouth  that  they  might  join  in  it.  Many  of 
the  American  statesmen,  familiar  with  the  character  of  the 
government  of  the  Netherlands,  possessed  sufficient  experi- 
ence and  knowledge  to  frame  a  plan  of  union ;  but  the  warn- 
ing to  Plymouth  was  so  short  that  they  could  not  come,  and 
the  subject  was  deferred. 

In  March,  1638,  Davenport  and  Eaton,  declining  the  solici- 
tations of  the  government  of  Massachusetts  to  remain  within 
its  jurisdiction,  pledged  themselves  in  their  chosen  abode  "  to 
be  instrumental  for  the  common  good  of  the  plantations  which 
the  Divine  Providence  had  combined  together  in  a  strong 
bond  of  brotherly  affection,  so  that  their  several  armies  might 
mutually  strengthen  them  both  against  their  several  enemies." 
The  dangers  against  which  they  needed  to  concert  joint  action 
were  those  which  threatened  their  institutions  from  the  prel- 
ates and  the  king,  and  those  which  menaced  their  territory 
from  the  Dutch  of  New  Netherlands  and  the  French  of 
Acadia   and   Canada.      In  the  course  of  the  year,  a  union 


290  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  xviii. 

of  the  Calvinist  colonies  came  again  into  discussion ;  and 
Massacliusetts  propounded  as  the  order  of  confederation  that, 
upon  any  matter  of  difference,  the  assembled  commissioners 
of  every  one  of  the  confederate  colonies  should  have  full 
power  to  determine  it.  Those  of  Connecticut,  from  their 
shyness  of  coming  under  the  government  of  Massachusetts, 
insisted  that  the  commissioners,  if  they  could  not  agree,  should 
only  make  reports  to  their  several  colonies  till  unanimity  should 
be  obtained.  But  Massachusetts,  "holding  it  very  unlikely 
that  all  the  churches  in  all  the  plantations  would  ever  unani- 
mously agree  upon  the  same  propositions,  refused  the  reserva- 
tion to  each  state  of  a  negative  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
whole  confederacy ; "  for,  in  that  case,  "  all  would  have  come 
to  nothing,"  and,  after  infinite  trouble  and  expense,  the  issue 
would  have  been  left  to  the  sword. 

The  Dutch  on  Manhattan  had  received  a  new  and  more 
active  governor,  who  complained  much  of  the  encroachments 
of  Connecticut,  and  sought  by  a  friendly  correspondence  with 
Massachusetts  to  nurse  divisions  in  New  England.  To  guard 
against  this  danger,  in  May,  1639,  Hooker  and  Haynes  sailed 
into  Massachusetts  bay,  where  they  remained  a  month  in  the 
hope  to  bring  about  a  treaty  for  confederation.  The  general 
court  moved  first  in  the  measure,  and  the  more  readily  that 
the  Dutch  "  might  not  notice  any  breach  or  alienation  "  be- 
tween kindred  colonies. 

The  confederation  having  failed  in  consequence  of  the  re- 
luctance of  Connecticut  to  consent  to  be  bound  by  any  vote 
that  should  be  less  than  unanimous,  it  devolved  on  that  colony, 
if  it  would  renew  efforts  for  union,  to  prepare  a  form  that 
should  be  accepted  by  Massachusetts.  A  concert  was  estab- 
lished with  Fenwick,  the  representative  of  "  the  lords"  and 
gentlemen  "  interested  at  Say  brook ;  and,  in  1641,  he  proposed 
to  wait  "  one  year  longer,"  in  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  his 
company,  or  at  least  some  part  of  them.  But,  under  the 
change  in  the  political  condition  of  England,  they  had  aban- 
doned the  thought  of  emigration,  though  not  their  friendly 
interest  in  ISTew  England.  At  length,  in  September,  1642, 
Connecticut  sent  to  Massachusetts  propositions  "for  a  com- 
bination of  the  colonies." 


1642-1643.  THE  UNITED   COLONIES   OF  NEW  ENGLAND.     291 

These  propositions  readied  Boston  at  a  time  when  the  col- 
ony was  closely  watching  the  rage  of  parties  in  the  mother 
country,  and  when  it  was  rumored  that  a  party  in  Virginia 
was  about  to  rise  for  the  king.  On  the  advice  of  the  elders, 
the  general  court,  then  in  session,  had  ordered  a  fast  "  chiefly 
on  account  of  the  news  out  of  England  concerning  the  breach 
between  the  king  and  parliament."  On  the  twenty-seventh  of 
September,  the  propositions  from  Connecticut  were  read  in  the 
general  court  and  referred  to  a  committee,  to  be  considered  of 
after  its  adjournment 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  the  several  colonies  was 
that,  in  May,  1643,  the  general  court,  which  was  then  in  ses- 
sion, chose  their  governor,  two  magistrates,  and  three  deputies, 
'^  to  treat  with  their  friends  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  and 
Plymouth,  who  were  come  about  a  confederacy  between 
them."  At  a  time  so  fraught  with  danger  from  their  wide 
dispersion  on  the  sea-coasts  and  rivers,  from  living  encom- 
passed with  people  of  other  nations  and  strange  languages, 
from  a  combination  of  the  natives  against  the  several  English 
plantations,  and  from  the  sad  distractions  in  England,  whence 
they  had  no  right  to  expect  either  advice  or  protection,  "they 
conceived  it  their  bounden  duty  without  delay  to  enter  into  a 
present  consociation  among  themselves  for  mutual  help  and 
strength,  that,  as  in  nation  and  religion,  so  in  other  respects 
they  might  be  and  continue  one."  The  meeting  was  in  fact  a 
regular  convention  for  framing  a  constitution,  and  its  mem- 
bers were  selected  from  the  ablest  men  of  ]N"ew  England. 
Among  others  there  came  from  Connecticut,  Haynes ;  from 
New  Haven,  Eaton  ;  from  Saybrook,  Fenton,  by  the  consent 
of  New  Haven ;  from  Plymouth,  Winslow ;  from  Massachu- 
setts, Winthrop. 

The  articles  of  confederation,  which  were  completed  before 
the  end  of  the  month,  gave  to  the  four  Calvinist  governments 
the  name  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England.  For 
themselves  and  their  posterity,  they  entered  into  a  firm  and 
perpetual  league  of  offence  and  defence,  mutual  advice  and 
succor,  both  for  preserving  and  propagating  the  truths  and 
liberties  of  the  gospel,  and  for  their  mutual  safety  and  welfare. 
It  was  established  that  each  of  them  should  preserve  entirely 


292  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  m  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  xviii. 

to  itself  the  "  peculiar  jurisdiction  and  government  "  within 
its  own  limits ;  and  with  these  the  confederation  was  never 
"  to  intermeddle."  The  charge  of  all  just  wars,  whether  offen- 
sive or  defensive,  was  to  be  apportioned  upon  the  several  juris- 
dictions according  to  the  number  of  their  male  inhabitants 
from  sixteen  years  old  to  threescore,  each  jurisdiction  being 
left  to  collect  its  quota  according  to  its  own  custom  of  rating. 
In  like  equitable  proportion,  the  advantage  derived  from  war 
was  to  be  shared.  The  method  of  repelling  a  sudden  invasion 
of  one  of  the  colonies  bj  an  enemy,  whether  French,  Dutch, 
or  Indian,  was  minutely  laid  down.  For  the  concluding .  of 
all  affairs  that  concerned  the  whole  confederation,  the  largest 
state,  superior  to  all  the  rest  in  territory,  wealth,  and  popula- 
tion, had  no  more  delegates  than  the  least ;  there  were  to  be 
chosen,  by  and  out  of  each  of  the  four  jurisdictions,  two  com- 
missioners, of  whom  every  one  was  required  to  be  "in  church 
fellowship."  These  were  to  meet  annually  on  the  first  Thurs- 
day in  September,  the  first  and  fifth  of  every  ■G.ve  years  at 
Boston,  the  intervening  years  at  Hartford,  'New  Haven,  and 
Plymouth  in  rotation ;  and  to  vote  not  by  states,  but  man  by 
man. 

At  each  meeting,  they  might  choose  out  of  themselves  a 
president,  but  could  endow  him  mth  no  other  power  than  to 
direct  the  comely  carrying  on  of  all  proceedings.  The  com- 
missioners were  by  a  vote  of  three  fourths  of  their  number  to 
determine  all  affairs  of  war,  peace,  and  alliances ;  Indian  af- 
fairs ;  the  admission  of  new  members  into  the  confederacy ; 
the  allowing  of  any  one  of  the  present  confederates  to  enlarge 
its  territory  by  annexing  other  plantations,  or  any  two  of  these 
to  join  in  one  jurisdiction;  and  "all  things  of  like  nature, 
which  are  the  proper  concomitants  or  consequents  of  such  a 
confederation  for  amity,  offence,  and  defence."  When  six  of 
the  eight  commissioners  could  agree,  their  vote  was  to  be 
final ;  otherwise,  the  propositions,  with  their  reasons,  were  to 
be  referred  to  the  four  general  courts  of  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, Plymouth,  and  New  Haven. 

The  commissioners  were  enjoined  to  provide  for  peace 
among  the  confederates  themselves,  and  to  secure  free  and 
speedy  justice  to  all  the  confederates  in  each  of  the  other  juris- 


1643.        THE  UNITED   COLONIES   OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        293 

dictions  equally  as  in  their  own.  The  runaway  servant  was 
to  be  delivered  up  to  his  master,  and  the  fugitive  from  justice 
to  the  officer  in  pursuit  of  him.  The  power  of  coercing  a 
confederate  who  should  break  any  of  the  articles  rested  with 
the  commissioners  for  the  other  jurisdictions,  "  that  both  peace 
and  this  present  confederation  might  be  entirely  preserved 
without  violation." 

"  This  perpetual  confederation  and  the  several  articles  and 
agreements  thereof,"  so  runs  its  record  of  May,  1643,  "  being 
read  and  seriously  considered,  were  fully  allowed  and  confirmed 
by  the  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven."  On 
the  seventh  of  the  following  June,  Plymouth  by  its  general 
court  gave  order  "  to  subscribe  the  same  in  its  name,  and  to 
affix  thereto  its  seal." 

The  articles  of  the  'New  England  confederacy  not  only  pro- 
vided for  the  return  of  the  fugitive  slave  ;  they  classed  persons 
among  the  spoils  of  war,  and  the  sternest  morality  of  that  day 
doomed  captive  red  men  to  slavery.  As  early  as  1637,  negro 
slaves  were  imported  into  New  England  from  Providence  isle. 
But  when,  in  1645,  a  party  who  sailed  from  Boston  "for 
Guinea  to  trade  for  negroes,"  joined  some  Londoners  in  de- 
taining as  prisoners  the  natives  "  whom  they  invited  upon  the 
Lord's  day  aboard  one  of  their  fehips,"  and  assaulted  a  town 
which  they  burned,  killing  some  of  the  people,  a  cry  was  raised 
against  "such  vile  and  most  odious  courses,  abhorred  of  all 
good  and  just  men."  The  accused  escaped  punishment  only 
because  the  court  could  not  take  cognizance  of  crimes  com- 
mitted in  foreign  lands.  In  the  next  year,  after  advice  with 
the  elders,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  bearing  "  witness 
against  the  heinous  crime  of  man-stealing,"  ordered  the  ne- 
groes to  be  restored,  at  the  public  charge,  "to  their  native 
country,  with  a  letter  expressing  the  indignation  of  the  gen- 
eral court "  at  their  wrongs. 

When  George  Fox  visited  Barbados,  in  1671,  he  enjoined 
it  upon  the  planters  that  they  should  "  deal  mildly  and  gently 
with  their  negroes ;  and  that,  after  certain  years  of  servitude, 
they  should  make  them  free."  His  idea  had  been  anticipated 
by  the  fellow-citizens  of  Gorton  and  Roger  Williams.  On 
the  eighteenth  of  May,  1652,  the  representatives  of  Provi- 


294  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.;  oh.  xviii. 

dence  and  Warwick,  perceiving  the  disposition  of  people  in 
the  colony  ''  to  buy  negroes,"  and  hold  them  "  as  slaves  for- 
ever," enacted  that  "  no  black  mankind  "  shall^  "  by  covenant, 
bond,  or  otherwise,"  be  held  to  perpetual  service ;  the  master, 
"  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  shall  set  them  free,  as  the  manner  is 
with  English  servants ;  and  that  man  that  will  not  let "  his 
slave  "go  free,  or  shall  sell  him  away,  to  the  end  that  he  may 
be  enslaved  to  others  for  a  longer  time,  shall  forfeit  to  the  col- 
ony forty  pounds."  Now  forty  pounds  was  nearly  twice  the 
value  of  a  negro  slave.  The  law  was  not  enforced ;  but  the 
principle  did  not  perish. 

The_CQiif£deracy  possessed  no  direct  executive  power ;  and 
it  remained  for  its  several  members  to  mterpret  and  to  execute 
the  votes  of  their  commissioners.  Moreover,  Massachusetts 
too  greatly  exceeded  the  others  in  power.  Yet  the  union  lived 
or  lingered  through  forty  years ;  and,  after  it  was  cut  down, 
left  the  hope  that  a  wider  and  better  one  would  spring  from 
its  root. 

The  provision  for  the  reception  of  new  members  into  the 
confederacy  was  without  results.  The  people  beyond  the  Pis- 
cataqua  were  not  admitted,  because  "they  ran  a  different 
course  both  in  their  ministry  and  in  their  civil  administration." 
The  desire  of  the  plantations  of  Providence  was  rejected  ;  the 
request  of  the  islanders  of  Ehode  Island  was  equally  vain,  be- 
cause they  would  not  consent  to  form  a  p^rt  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  Plymouth. 

On  the  seventh  of  September,  1643,  the  commissioners  of 
the  confederacy  opened  their  first  meeting  by  the  election 
of  John  Winthrop  as  their  president.  Against  the  claim  of 
the  Dutch  they  allowed  the  right  of  Connecticut  to  colonize 
Long  Island,  and  they  assumed  the  office  of  protecting  the 
settlements  against  the  natives,  whose  power  was  growing 
formidable  in  proportion  as  they  became  acquainted  with  the 
arts  of  civilized  life,  but  who  were,  at  the  same  time,  weak- 
ened by  dissensions  among  themselves.  I^^ow  that  the  Pe- 
quod  nation  was  extinct,  the  more  quiet  ^N^arragan setts  could 
hardly  remain  at  peace  with  the  less  numerous  Mohegans. 
Anger  and  revenge  brooded  in  the  mind  of  Miantonomoh. 
He  hated  the  Mohegans^  for  they  were  the  allies  of  the  Eng- 


1643-1644.  THE  UNITED   COLONIES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.    295 

lish,  by  whom  he  had  been  arraigned  as  a  criminal.  He  had 
suffered  indignities  at  Boston,  alike  wounding  to  his  pride 
as  a  chieftain  and  his  honor  as  a  man.  His  savage  wrath 
was  kindled  against  Uncas,  his  accuser,  whom  he  detested  as 
doubly  his  enemy — once  as  the  sachem  of  a  hostile  tribe,  and 
again  as  the  sycophant  of  the  white  men.  Gathering  his  men 
suddenly  together,  in  defiance  of  a  treaty  to  which  the  Eng- 
lish were  parties,  Miantonomoh,  accompanied  by  a  thousand 
warriors,  fell  upon  the  Mohegans.  But  his  movements  were 
as  rash  as  his  spirit  was  impetuous  :  he  was  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner  by  those  whom  he  had  doomed  as  a  certain  prey  to 
his  vengeance.  By  the  laws  of  Indian  warfare,  the  fate  of  the 
captive  was  death.  Yet  Gorton  and  his  friends,  who  held 
their  lands  by  a  grant  from  Miantonomoh,  interceded  for  their 
benefactor.  The  unhappy  chief  was  conducted  to  Hartford  ; 
and  the  wavering  Uncas,  who  had  the  strongest  claims  to  the 
gratitude  and  protection  of  the  English,  asked  the  advice  of 
the  commissioners  of  the  united  colonies.  Murder  had  ever 
been  severely  punished  by  the  Puritans :  they  had  at  Ply- 
mouth, with  the  advice  of  Massachusetts,  executed  three  of 
their  own  men  for  taking  the  life  of  one  Indian ;  and  the 
elders,  to  whom  the  case  of  Miantonomoh  was  referred — finding 
that  he  had,  deliberately  and  in  time  of  quiet,  murdered  a  ser- 
vant of  the  Mohegan  chief ;  that  he  had  fomented  discontents 
against  the  English ;  and  that,  in  contempt  of  a  league,  he 
had  plunged  into  a  useless  and  bloody  war — could  not  perceive 
any  reason  for  interfering  to  save  him.  Uncas  received  his 
captive,  and,  conveying  the  helpless  victim  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut,  put  him  to  death.  So  per- 
ished Miantonomoh,  the  friend  of  the  exiles  from  Massachu- 
setts, the  benefactor  of  the  fathers  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  tribe  of  Miantonomoh  burned  to  avenge  the  execution 
of  their  chief  ;  but  they  feared  a  conflict  with  the  English, 
whose  alliance  they  vainly  solicited,  and  who  persevered  in 
protecting  the  Mohegans.  The  IN^arragansetts  at  last  submit- 
ted in  sullenness  to  a  peace,  of  which  the  terms  were  alike 
hateful  to  their  independence,  their  prosperity,  and  their  love 
of  revenge. 

While  the  commissioners,  thus  unreservedly  and  without 


296  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xvm. 

appeal,  controlled  the  relation  of  the  native  tribes,  they,  of 
their  ovvn  authority,  negotiated  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  gov- 
ernor of  Acadia. 

Content  with  the  security  which  the  confederacy  afforded, 
the  people  of  Connecticut  desired  no  guarantee  for  their  insti- 
tutions from  the  government  of  England  ;  taking  care  only, 
by  a  regular  purchase,  to  obtain  a  title  to  the  soil  that  be- 
longed to  the  assigns  of  the  earl  of  Warwick. 

The  people  of  Rhode  Island,  excluded  from  the  colonial 
union,  could  never  have  maintained  their  existence  as  a  sepa- 
rate state  had  they  not  sought  the  interference  and  protection 
of  the  mother  country  ;  and  Eoger  Williams,  the  founder  of 
the  colony,  was  chosen  to  conduct  the  important  mission.  In 
1643,  embarking  at  Manhattan,  he  arrived  in  England  about 
the  time  of  the  death  of  Hampden.  The  parliament  had 
committed  the  affairs  of  the  American  colonies  to  the  earl  of 
Warwick,  as  governor  in  chief,  assisted  by  a  council  of  five 
peers  and  twelve  commoners.  Among  these  commoners  was 
Henry  Yane,  who  welcomed  the  American  envoy  as  an  ancient 
friend.  The  favor  of  parliament  was  won  by  the  "printed 
Indian  labors  of  Roger  Williams,  the  like  whereof  was  not  ex- 
tant from  any  part  of  America ; "  and  his  merits  as  a  mission- 
ary induced  ''*  both  houses  to  grant  unto  him,  and  friends  with 
him,  a  free  and  absolute  charter  of  civil  government  for  those 
parts  of  his  abode."  On  the  fourteenth  of  March,  1644,  the 
places  of  refuge  for  ^^  soul-liberty,"  on  the  Narragansett  bay, 
were  incorporated,  "with  full  power  and  authority  to  rule 
themselves,  and  such  others  as  shall  hereafter  inhabit  within 
any  part  of  the  said  tract  of  land,  by  such  a  form  of  civil  gov- 
ernment as  by  voluntary  consent  of  all,  or  the  greater  part  of 
them,  they  shall  find  most  suitable  to  their  estate  and  condi- 
tion ; "  ^*  to  place  and  displace  officers  of  justice,  as  they,  or 
the  greatest  part  of  them,  shall  by  free  consent  agree  unto." 
To  the  Long  Parliament,  and  especially  to  Sir  Henry  Yane, 
Rhode  Island  owes  its  existence  as  a  political  state. 

A  double  triumph  awaited  Williams  in  1644  on  his  return 
to  New  England.  He  arrived  at  Boston,  where  letters  from 
the  parliament  insured  him  a  safe  reception.  But  what  hon- 
ors were  prepared  for  the  liappy  ne^tiator  on  his  return  to 


3644-1654.  RHODE  ISLAND.  297 

the  province  which  he  had  founded !  As  he  reached  See- 
konk,  he  found  the  water  covered  with  a  fleet  of  canoes ;  all 
Providence  had  come  forth  to  welcome  the  return  of  its  bene- 
factor. Receiving  their  successful  ambassador,  the  group  of 
boats  started  for  the  opposite  shore ;  and,  as  they  paddled 
across  the  stream,  Roger  Williams,  placed  in  the  centre  of  his 
grateful  fellow-citizens,  "  was  elevated  and  transported  out  of 
himself." 

And  now  came  the  experiment  of  the  efficacy  of  popular 
sovereignty.  The  value  of  a  moral  principle  may  be  tried 
on  a  small  community  as  well  as  a  large  one.  There  were 
already  several  towns  in  the  new  state,  filled  with  the  strangest 
and  most  incongruous  elements — Anabaptists  and  Antinomi- 
ans,  fanatics,  and  infidels,  as  its  enemies  asserted  ;  so  that,  if 
a  man  had  lost  his  religious  opinions,  he  might  have  been 
sure  to  find  them  again  in  some  village  of  Rhode  Island.  All 
men  were  equal ;  all  might  meet  and  debate  in  the  public 
assemblies  ;  all  might  aspire  to  office  ;  the  people,  for  a  season, 
constituted  itself  its  own  tribune,  and  every  public  law  re- 
quired confirmation  in  the  primary  assemblies.  The  little 
"  democracie,"  which,  at  the  beat  of  the  drum  or  the  voice  of 
the  herald,  used  to  assemble  beneath  an  oak  or  by  the  open 
searside,  was  famous  for  its  "  headiness  and  tumults,"  its  stormy 
town-meetings,  and  the  angry  feuds  of  its  herdsmen  and  shep- 
herds ;  but,  true  as  the  needle  to  the  pole,  the  popular  will 
instinctively  pursued  the  popular  interest.  Amidst  the  jarring 
quarrels  of  rival  statesmen  in  the  plantations,  good  men  were 
chosen  to  administer  the  government ;  and  the  spirit  of  mercy, 
of  liberality  and  wisdom,  was  impressed  on  its  legislation. 
"  Our  popularitie,"  say  their  records  for  May,  1647,  "  shall  not, 
as  some  conjecture  it  will,  prove  an  anarchic,  and  so  a  common 
tirannie ;  for  we  are  exceeding  desirous  to  preserve  every  man 
safe  in  his  person,  name,  and  estate." 

Yet  danger  still  menaced.  The  executive  council  of  state 
in  England,  in  April,  1651,  granted  to  Coddington  a  commis- 
sion for  governing  the  islands ;  and  such  a  dismemberment 
of  the  territory  of  the  narrow  state  must  have  terminated  in 
the  division  of  the  remaining  soil  between  the  adjacent  gov- 
ernments.    Williams  again  returned  to  England ;  and,  with 

VOL.  I.— 21 


ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  oh.  xviil 

John  Clarke,  his  colleague  in  the  mission,  was  again  success- 
ful. The  dangerous  commission  was  vacated,  and,  on  the 
second  of  October,  1652,  the  charter  and  union  of  what  now 
forms  the  state  of  Rhode  Island  was  confirmed.  The  general 
assembly,  in  its  gratitude,  desired  that  Williams  might  himself 
obtain  from  the  sovereign  authority  in  England  an  appoint- 
ment as  governor,  for  a  year,  over  the  whole  colony.  But,  if 
gratitude  blinded  the  province,  ambition  did  not  blind  its 
envoy.  Williams  refused  to  sanction  a  measure  which  would 
have  furnished  a  most  dangerous  precedent,  and  was  content 
with  the  honor  of  doing  good.  His  success  with  the  executive 
council  was  due  to  the  intercession  of  Sir  Henry  Yane.  ''  Un- 
der God,  the  sheet-anchor  of  Rhode  Island  was  Sir  Henry." 
"  From  the  first  beginning  of  the  Providence  colony,"  thus,  in 
1654,  did  the  town-meeting  address  Sir  Henry  Yane,  "you 
have  been  a  noble  and  true  friend  to  an  outcast  and  despised 
people  ;  we  have  ever  reaped  the  sweet  fruits  of  your  constant 
loving-kindness  and  favor.  We  have  long  been  free  from  the 
iron  yoke  of  wolvish  bishops ;  we  have  sitten  dry  from  the 
streams  of  blood  spilt  by  the  wars  in  our  native  country.  We 
have  not  felt  the  new  chains  of  the  Presbyterian  tyrants,  nor 
in  this  colony  have  we  been  consumed  by  the  over-zealous  fire 
of  the  (so  called)  godly  Christian  magistrates.  We  have  not 
known  what  an  excise  means  ;  we  have  almost  forgotten  what 
tithes  are.  We  have  long  drunk  of  the  cup  of  as  great  lib- 
erties as  any  people,  that  we  can  hear  of,  under  the  whole 
heaven.  When  we  are  gone,  our  posterity  and  children  after 
us  shall  read,  in  our  town  records,  your  loving-kindness  to  us, 
and  our  real  endeavor  after  peace  and  righteousness." 

Far  different  were  the  early  destinies  of  the  province  of 
Maine.  In  June,  1640,  a  general  court  was  held  at  Saco,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  lord  proprietary,  who  had  drawn  upon  paper 
a  stately  scheme  of  government,  with  deputies  and  counsellors, 
a  marshal  and  a  treasurer  of  the  public  revenue,  chancellors, 
and  a  master  of  the  ordnance,  and  every  thing  that  the  worthy 
old  man  deemed  essential  to  his  greatness.  Sir  Ferdinando  had 
"  travailed  in  the  cause  above  forty  years,"  and  expended  above 
twenty  thousand  pounds ;  yet,  in  1642,  all  the  regalia  which 
Thomas  Gorges,  his  trusty  and  well-beloved  cousin  and  deputy, 


1642-1656.  MAINE. 

could  find  in  tlie  principality,  were  not  enough  for  the  scanty 
furniture  of  a  cottage.  Agameiiticus,  though  in  truth  but  "  a 
poor  village,"  soon  became  a  chartered  borough ;  like  another 
Romulus,  the  veteran  soldier  resolved  to  perpetuate  his  name, 
and  the  land  round  York,  known  transiently  as  Gorgeana,  be- 
came as  good  a  city  as  seals  and  parchment,  a  nominal  mayor 
and  aldermen,  chancery  court  and  court-leet,  sergeants  and 
white  rods,  can  make  of  a  town  of  less  than  three  hundred 
inhabitants  and  its  petty  officers.  Yet  the  nature  of  Gorges 
was  generous,  and  his  piety  sincere.  He  sought  pleasure  in 
doing  good ;  fame,  by  advancing  Christianity  among  the 
heathen ;  a  durable  monument,  by  erecting  houses,  villages, 
and  towns.  The  contemporary  and  friend  of  Ealeigh,  he  ad- 
hered to  schemes  in  America  for  almost  half  a  century ;  and, 
long  after  he  became  convinced  of  their  unproductiveness,  was 
still  bent  on  plans  of  colonization,  at  an  age  when  other  men 
are  but  preparing  to  die  with  decorum.  Firmly  attached  to 
the  monarchy,  he  never  disobeyed  his  king,  except  that,  as  a 
churchman  and  a  Protestant,  he  refused  to  serve  against  the 
Huguenots.  When  the  wars  in  England  broke  out,  the  sep- 
tuagenarian royalist  buckled  on  his  armor  and  gave  his  last 
strength  to  the  defence  of  the  unfortunate  Charles.  In  Amer- 
ica, his  fortunes  had  met  with  a  succession  of  untoward  events. 
The  patent  for  Lygonia  had  been  purchased  in  1643,  by  Rigby, 
a  republican  member  of  the  Long  Parliament ;  and  a  dispute 
ensued  between  the  deputies  of  the  respective  proprietaries. 
In  vain  did  Cleaves,  the  agent  of  Rigby,  in  1644,  solicit  the 
assistance  of  Massachusetts  ;  the  colony  warily  refused  to  take 
part  in  the  strife.  Both  aspirants  now  solicited  the  Bay  magis- 
trates to  act  as  umpires.  In  June,  1645,  the  cause  was  learnedly 
argued  in  Boston,  and  the  decree  of  the  court  was  oracular. 
Neither  party  was  allowed  to  have  a  clear  right ;  and  both 
were  enjoined  to  live  in  peace.  But  how  could  Yines  and 
Cleaves  assert  their  authority  ?  On  the  death  of  Gorges,  the 
people  repeatedly  wrote  to  his  heirs.  No  answer  was  received ; 
and  such  commissioners  as  had  authority  from  Europe  gradu- 
ally withdrew.  There  was  no  relief  for  the  colonists  but  in 
themselves ;  and,  in  July,  1649,  the  inhabitants  of  Piscataqua, 
Gorgeana,  and  Wells,  following  the  American  precedent,  with 


300  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xvni, 

free  and  unanimous  consent  formed  themselves  into  a  body 
politic  for  the  purposes  of  self-government.  Massachusetts 
readily  offered  its  protection.  In  May,  1652,  the  great  charter 
of  the  Bay  company  was  unrolled  before  the  general  court  in 
Boston  ;  and,  "  upon  perusal  of  the  instrument,  it  was  voted 
that  this  jurisdiction  extends  from  the  northernmost  part  of 
the  river  Merrimack,  and  three  miles  more,  north,  be  it  one 
hundred  miles,  more  or  lesse,  from  the  sea  ;  and  then  upon  a 
straight  line  east  and  west  to  each  sea."  The  words  were  pre- 
cise. !N"othing  remained  but  to  find  the  latitude  of  a  point 
three  miles  to  the  north  of  the  remotest  waters  of  the  Merri- 
mack, and  to  annex  the  territory  of  Maine  which  lies  south  of 
that  parallel ;  for  the  grant  to  Massachusetts  was  prior  to  the 
patents  under  which  Rigby  and  the  heirs  of  Gorges  had  been 
disputing.  The  "  engrasping  "  Massachusetts  promptly  de- 
spatched commissioners  to  the  eastward  to  settle  the  govern- 
ment. The  remonstrances  of  the  loyalist  Edward  Godfrey, 
then  governor  of  the  province,  were  disregarded ;  and  one 
town  after  another,  yielding  in  part  to  menaces  and  armed 
force,  gave  in  its  adhesion.  Every  man  was  confirmed  in  his 
possessions ;  the  religious  liberty  of  the  Episcopalians  was  un- 
harmed ;  the  privileges  of  citizenship  were  extended  to  all 
inhabitants ;  and  the  eastern  country  gradually,  yet  reluctantly, 
submitted  to  the  change.  When,  in  1656,  the  claims  of  the 
proprietaries  were  urged  before  Cromwell,  many  inhabitants 
of  the  towns  of  York,  Kittery,  Wells,  Saco,  and  Cape  Por- 
poise, yet  not  a  majority,  remonstrated*.  To  sever  them  from 
Massachusetts  would  be  to  them  "  the  subverting  of  all  civil 
order."  By  following  the  most  favorable  interpretation  of  its 
charter,  Massachusetts  extended  its  frontier  to  the  islands  in 
Casco  bay. 

In  1644,  the  year  after  the  confederation  of  the  four  Cal- 
vinist  colonies,  the  government  of  Massachusetts  was  brought 
nearer  to  its  present  form.  The  discontent  of  the  deputies  at 
the  separate  negative  of  the  assistants  came  to  its  height,  when, 
on  an  appeal  to  the  general  court,  the  assistants  and  the  depu- 
ties sitting  together  reversed  a  decision  of  the  lower  court,  and 
the  assistants,  by  their  separate  act,  immediately  restored  it. 
The  time  had  come  for  a  change;  but,  instead  of  the  old 


1644.  MASSACHUSETTS.  301 

proposition  to  take  from  the  magistrates  tlieir  negative,  and  so 
introduce  the  system  of  one  irresponsible,  absolute  chamber, 
better  thoughts  arose  ;  and,  "  as  the  groundwork  for  govern- 
ment and  order  in  the  issuing  of  business  of  greatest  and  high- 
est consequence,"  it  was  agreed  that  the  magistrates  and  depu- 
ties should  sit  in  separate  chambers,  each  of  which  should  have 
the  right  to  originate  orders  and  laws,  and  each  have  a  negative 
on  the  acts  of  the  other.  So  far  the  form  of  the  Massachusetts 
government  was  established  as  it  now  exists ;  but  as  yet  no 
separate  negative  was  allowed  to  the  governor. 

With  the  increase  of  English  freedom,  the  dangers  which 
had  menaced  Massachusetts  appeared  to  pass  away ;  its  gov- 
ernment began  to  adventure  on  a  more  lenient  policy;  the 
sentence  of  exile  against  Wheelwright  was  rescinded  ;  a  propo- 
sition was  made  to  extend  the  franchises  of  the  company  to 
those  who  were  not  church  members,  provided  "  a  civil  agree- 
ment among  all  the  English  could  be  formed "  for  asserting 
the  common  liberty.  For  this  purpose,  letters  were  written 
to  the  confederated  states ;  but  the  want  of  concert  defeated 
the  plan.  The  law  which,  nearly  at  the  same  time,  threatened 
obstinate  Anabaptists  with  exile,  was  not  designed  to  be  en- 
forced. "  Anabaptism,"  says  Jeremy  Taylor,  in  his  famous 
argument  for  liberty,  "  is  as  much  to  be  rooted  out  as  anything 
that  is  the  greatest  pest  and  nuisance  to  the  public  interest." 
The  fathers  of  Massachusetts  reasoned  more  mildly.  The 
dangers  apprehended  from  some  wild  and  turbulent  spirits, 
"  whose  conscience  and  religion  seemed  only  to  sett  forth 
themselves  and  raise  contentions  in  the  country,  did  provoke 
us" — such  was  their  language  in  1640--"  to  provide  for  our 
safety  by  a  law,  that  all  such  should  take  notice  how  unwel- 
come they  should  be  unto  us,  either  comeing  or  staying.  But 
for  such  as  differ  from  us  only  in  judgment,  and  live  peaceably 
amongst  us,  suah  have  no  cause  to  complain ;  for  it  hath  never 
beene  as  yet  putt  in  execution  against  any  of  them,  although 
such  are  known  to  live  amongst  us."  Even  two  of  the  presi- 
dents of  Harvard  College  were  Anabaptists. 

While  dissenters  were  thus  treated  with  an  equivocal  toler* 
ation,  no  concessions  were  made  toward  the  government  in 
England.     It  was  the  creed  of  even  the  most  loyal  deputy, 


302  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  oh.  xvm. 

that,  "  if  the  king,  or  any  party  from  him,  should  attempt  any- 
thing against  this  commonwealth,"  it  was  the  common  duty 
"  to  spend  estate,  and  life,  and  all,  without  scruple,  in  its  de- 
fence ; "  that,  "  if  the  parliament  itself  should  hereafter  be  of 
a  malignant  spirit,  then,  if  the  colony  have  strength  sufficient, 
it  may  withstand  any  authority  from  thence  to  its  hurt.'- 
Massachusetts  called  itself  "  a  perfect  republic."  iN'or  was  the 
expression  a  vain  boast.  The  commonwealth,  by  force  of 
arms,  preserved  in  its  harbors  a  neutrality  between  the  ships 
of  the  opposing  English  factions ;  and  the  law,  which  placed 
death  as  the  penalty  on  any  "  attempt  at  the  alteration  of  the 
frame  of  polity  fundamentally,"  was  well  understood  to  be 
aimed  at  those  who  should  assert  the  supremacy  of  the  English 
parliament.  The  establishment  of  a  mint,  in  1652,  was  an 
exercise  of  sovereignty.  The  silver  shilling,  stamped  with  the 
image  of  a  pine-tree,  was  largely  coined. 

Whilst  the  public  mind  was  agitated  with  discussions  on 
liberty  of  conscience  and  independence  of  English  jurisdiction, 
the  community,  in  this  infancy  of  popular  government,  was 
disturbed  with  a  third  "  great  question  about  the  authority  of 
the  magistrates  and  the  liberty  of  the  people." 

The  oldest  dispute  in  the  colony  was  of  1632,  and  related 
to  the  limits  of  the  authority  of  the  governor.  In  1634,  on 
occasion  of  dividing  the  town  lands,  "men  of  the  inferior 
sort  were  chosen  "  in  Boston.  Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  Indians, 
maintained  that  treaties  should  not  be  made  without  consult- 
ing the  commons.  The  doctrine  of  rotation  in  office  was  as- 
serted in  1639,  even  to  the  neglect  of  Winthrop,  "lest  there 
should  be  a  governor  for  life."  Like  symptoms  broke  out  in 
the  next  five  years.  When  one  of  the  elders  proposed  that 
the  place  of  governor  should  be  held  for  life,  the  deputies 
immediately  resolved  that  no  magistrate  of  any  kind  should 
be  elected  for  more  than  a  year.  The  magistrates  once  nom- 
inated several  persons  for  office ;  and  every  one  of  their  can- 
didates was  rejected.  On  the  other  hand,  when  one  of  the 
ministers  attempted  to  dissuade  the  freemen  from  choosing  the 
same  officers  twice  in  succession,  they  disliked  the  interference 
of  the  adviser  more  than  they  loved  the  doctrine  of  frequent 
change,  and  re-elected  the  old  magistrates  almost  without  ex- 


1644-1645.  MASSACHUSETTS.  303 

ception.  The  condition  of  a  new  colony  which  discarded  the 
legislation  of  the  mother  country  necessarily  left  many  things 
to  the  opinions  of  the  executive.  The  people  were  loud  in 
demanding  a  government  of  law,  and  not  of  discretion.  No 
sooner  had  Winthrop  pleaded  against  the  establishment  of 
an  exact  penalty  for  every  offence — because  justice,  not  less 
than  mercy,  imposed  the  duty  of  regulating  the  punishment 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  case — than  they  raised  the  cry  of 
arbitrary  power,  and  refused  the  hope  of  clemency,  when  it 
was  to  be  obtained  from  the  capricious  judgments  of  a  magis- 
trate. The  authority  exercised  by  the  assistants  during  the 
intervals  between  the  sessions  became  a  subject  of  apprehen- 
sion. A  majority  of  the  deputies  proposed  to  substitute  a 
joint  commission.  The  proposition  being  declined  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  patent,  they  then  desired  to  reserve  the  ques- 
tion for  further  deliberation.  When  to  this  it  was  answered 
that,  in  the  mean  time,  the  assistants  would  act  according  to 
the  power  and  trust  which  they  claimed  by  the  charter,  the 
deputies  rejoined,  by  their  speaker,  Hawthorne  :  "  You  will 
not  be  obeyed." 

In  1645,  the  popular  party  felt  a  consciousness  of  so  great 
strength  as  to  desire  a  struggle  with  its  opponents.  The  op- 
portunity could  not  long  be  wanting.  The  executive  magis- 
trates, accustomed  to  tutelary  vigilance  over  the  welfare  of  the 
towns,  had  set  aside  a  military  election  in  Hingham.  There 
had  been,  perhaps,  in  the  proceedings,  sufficient  irregularity 
to  warrant  the  interference.  The  affair  came  before  the  gen- 
eral court.  "  Two  of  the  magistrates  and  a  small  majority  of 
the  deputies  were  of  opinion  that  the  magistrates  exercised 
too  much  power,  and  that  the  people's  liberty  was  thereby  in 
danger ;  while  nearly  half  the  deputies,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
magistrates,  judged  that  authority  was  over-much  slighted, 
which,  if  not  remedied,  would  endanger  the  commonwealth 
and  introduce  a  mere  democracy."  The  two  branches  being 
at  variance,  a  reference  to  the  arbitration  of  the  elders  was 
proposed.  But  "  to  this  the  deputies  would  by  no  means  con- 
sent ;  for  they  knew  that  many  of  the  elders  were  more  care- 
ful to  uphold  the  honor  and  power  of  the  magistrates  than 
themselves  well  liked  of." 


30  i  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  ch.  xviil 

The  root  of  the  disturbance  at  Hingham  existed  in  "a 
presbjterial  spirit,"  which  opposed  the  government  of  the 
colonial  commonwealth.  Some  of  those  who  pleaded  the  laws 
of  England  against  the  charter  and  the  administration  in 
Massachusetts  had  been  committed  by  Winthrop,  then  deputy 
governor,  for  contempt  of  the  established  authority.  It  was 
proposed  to  procure  their  release  by  his  impeachment.  Hith- 
erto the  enemies  of  the  state  had  united  with  the  popular 
party,  and  both  had  assailed  the  charter  as  the  basis  of  magis- 
terial power  ;  the  former  with  the  view  of  invoking  the  inter- 
position of  England,  the  latter  in  the  hope  of  increasing  popu- 
lar liberty.  But  the  citizens  would  not,  even  in  the  excite- 
ment of  political  divisions,  wrong  the  purest  of  their  leaders, 
and  the  factious  elements  were  rendered  harmless  by  decom- 
position. Winthrop  appeared  at  the  bar  only  to  triumph  in 
his  acquittal,  while  his  false  accusers  were  punished  by  lines. 
"Civil  liberty,"  said  the  noble-minded  man,  in  "a  little 
speech  "  on  resuming  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  "  is  the  proper 
end  and  object  of  authority,  and  cannot  subsist  without  it. 
It  is  a  liberty  to  that  only  which  is  good,  just,  and  honest. 
This  liberty  you  are  to  stand  for  with  the  hazard  not  only  of 
your  goods,  but,  if  need  be,  of  your  lives.  Whatsoever  cross- 
eth  this  is  not  authority,  but  a  distemper  thereof." 

It  now  became  possible  to  adjust  the  long-continued  differ- 
ence by  a  compromise.  The  power  of  the  magistrates  over 
the  militia  was  diminished  by  law ;  but  though  the  magistrates 
themselves  were  by  some  declared  to  be  but  public  servants, 
holding  "  a  ministerial  office,"  and  though  it  became  a  favorite 
idea  that  all  authority  resides  essentially  with  the  people  in 
their  body  representative,  yet  the  Hingham  disturbers  were 
punished  by  heavy  fines,  while  Winthrop  and  his  friends  re- 
tained the  affectionate  confidence  of  the  colony. 

The  court  of  Massachusetts  was  ready  to  concede  the  en- 
joyment of  religious  worship  under  Presbyterian  forms ;  yet 
its  discontented  enemies,  defeated  in  their  hope  of  a  union 
with  the  popular  party,  determined  to  rally  on  the  principle 
of  liberty  of  conscience,  which  had  been  rapidly  making  prog- 
ress. Many  books  had  come  from  England  in  defence  of  tol- 
eration.   Many  of  the  court  were  well  inclined  to  suspend  the 


1646-1646.  MASSACHUSETTS.  305 

laws  against  Anabaptists,  and  the  order  subjecting  strangers 
to  the  supervision  of  the  magistrates ;  and  Winthrop  thought 
that  *"  the  rule  of  hospitality  required  more  moderation  and 
indulgence."  In  Boston,  a  powerful  liberal  party  already 
openly  existed ;  but  the  apparent  purpose  of  advancing  relig- 
ious freedom  was  made  to  disguise  measures  of  the  deadliest 
hostility  to  the  frame  of  civil  government.  The  nationality 
of  New  England  w^as  in  danger.  "William  Vassal,  of  Scituate,- 
was  the  chief  of  the  "busy  and  factious  spirits,  always  oppo- 
site to  the  civil  governments  of  the  country  and  the  way  of 
its  churches ; "  and,  at  the  same  time,  through  his  brother,  a 
member  of  the  Long  Parliament  and  of  the  commission  for 
the  colonies,  he  possessed  influence  in  England. 

The  new  party  desired  to  subvert  the  charter  government, 
and  introduce  a  general  governor  from  England.  They  en- 
deavored to  acquire  strength  by  rallying  all  the  materials  of 
opposition.  The  friends  of  Presbyterianism  were  soothed  by 
hopes  of  a  triumph ;  the  democratic  party  was  assured  that 
the  government  should  be  more  popular ;  while  the  penurious 
were  provoked  by  complaints  of  unwise  expenditures  and  in- 
tolerable taxations.  But  the  people  refused  to  be  decei  ved ; 
the  petition  to  the  general  court  for  redress  of  grievances  had 
with  difficulty  obtained  the  signatures  of  seven  men,  and  of 
these  some  were  sojourners  in  the  colony,  who  desired  only  an 
excuse  for  appealing  to  England.  Written  in  a  spirit  of  wan- 
ton insult,  it  introduced  every  topic  that  had  been  made  the 
theme  of  party  discussion,  and  asserted  that  there  existed  in 
the  country  no  settled  form  of  government  according  to  the 
laws  of  England.  A  thorough  reformation  was  demanded ; 
"  if  not,"  add  the  remonstrants,  "  we  shall  be  necessitated  to 
apply  our  humble  desires  to  both  houses  of  parliament ; "  and 
in  the  English  parliament  Presbyterianism  was  become  the 
ruling  power. 

In  1646,  Gorton  carried  his  complaints  to  the  mother  coun- 
try, and,  though  unaided  by  personal  influence  or  by  power- 
ful friends,  succeeded  in  all  his  wishes.  At  this  juncture,  an 
order  respecting  his  claims  arrived  in  Boston,  and  was  couched 
in  terms  which  involved  an  assertion  of  the  right  of  parliament 
to  reverse  the  decisions  and  control  the  government  of  Massa- 


306  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xvm. 

chusetts.  Had  tlie  Long  Parliament  revoked  the  patent  of 
Massachusetts,  the  Stuarts,  on  their  restoration,  would  have 
found  not  one  chartered  government  in  the  colonies,  and  the 
tenor  of  American  history  would  have  been  changed.  The 
people  rallied  with  great  unanimity  in  support  of  their  magis- 
trates. A  law  had  been  drawn  up  conferring  on  all  residents 
equal  power  in  town  affairs,  and  enlarging  the  constituency  of 
the  state.  It  was  deemed  safe  to  defer  the  enactment  till  the 
present  controversy  should  be  settled ;  the  order  against  Ana- 
baptists was  left  unrepealed ;  and,  notwithstanding  strong 
opposition  from  the  friends  of  toleration  in  Boston,  it  was 
resolved  to  convene  a  synod  to  give  counsel  on  the  permanent 
settlement  of  the  ecclesiastical  polity. 

In  November,  1646,  the  general  court  assembled  for  the 
discussion  of  the  usurpations  of  parliament  and  the  dangers 
from  domestic  treachery.  The  elders  did  not  fail  to  attend  in 
the  hour  of  gloom.  One  faithless  deputy  was  desired  to  with- 
draw ;  and  then,  with  closed  doors,  that  the  consultation  might 
remain  in  the  breast  of  the  court,  the  nature  of  the  relation 
with  England  was  made  the  subject  of  debate.  After  much 
deliberation,  it  was  agreed  that  Massachusetts  owed  to  Eng- 
land the  same  allegiance  as  the  free  Hanse  Towns  had  rendered 
to  the  empire ;  as  l^ormandy,  when  its  dukes  were  kings  of 
England,  had  paid  to  the  monarchs  of  France.  It  was  resolved 
not  to  accept  a  new  charter  from  the  parliament,  for  that 
would  imply  a  surrender  of  the  old.  Besides,  parliament 
granted  none  but  by  way  of  ordinance  which  the  king  might 
one  day  refuse  to  confirm,  and  always  made  for  itself  an 
express  reservation  of  "  a  supreme  power  in  all  things."  The 
elders,  after  a  day's  consultation,  confirmed  the  decision  :  "If 
parliament  should  be  less  inclinable  to  us,  we  must  wait  upon 
Providence  for  the  preservation  of  our  just  liberties." 

The  colony  then  proceeded  to  exercise  the  independence 
which  it  claimed.  The  general  court  summoned  the  disturbers 
of  the  public  security  into  its  presence.  Robert  Childe  and 
his  companions  appealed  to  the  commissioners  in  England. 
The  appeal  was  not  admitted.  "  The  charter,"  he  urged,  "  does 
but  create  a  corporation  within  the  realm,  subject  to  English 
laws."     "  Plantations,"  replied  the  court,  "  are  above  the  rank 


1646-1647.  MASSACHUSETTS.  307 

of  an  ordinary  corporation ;  thej  have  been  esteemed  other 
than  towns,  yea,  than  many  cities.  Colonies  are  the  founda- 
tions of  great  commonwealths.  It  is  the  fruit  of  pride  and 
folly  to  despise  the  day  of  small  things." 

To  the  parliament  of  England  which  was  then  Presbyte- 
rian, the  legislature  remonstrated  against  any  assertion  of  the 
paramount  authority  of  that  body  in  these  words : 

"  An  order  from  England  is  prejudicial  to  our  chartered 
liberties,  and  to  our  well-being  in  this  remote  part  of  the  world. 
Times  may  be  changed ;  for  all  things  here  below  are  subject 
to  vanity,  and  other  princes  or  parliaments  may  arise.  Let  not 
succeeding  generations  have  cause  to  lament  and  say,  England 
sent  our  fathers  forth  with  happy  liberties,  which  they  enjoyed 
many  years,  notwithstanding  all  the  enmity  and  opposition  of 
the  prelacy,  and  other  potent  adversaries ;  and  yet  these  liber- 
ties were  lost  in  the  season  when  England  itself  recovered  its 
own.  We  rode  out  the  dangers  of  the  sea :  shall  we  perish  in 
port  ?  We  have  not  admitted  appeals  to  your  authority,  being 
assured  they  cannot  stand  with  the  liberty  and  power  granted 
us  by  our  charter,  and  would  be  destructive  to  all  government. 
These  considerations  are  not  new  to  the  high  court  of  parlia- 
ment, the  records  whereof  bear  witness  of  the  wisdom  and 
faithfulness  of  our  ancestors  in  that  great  council,  who,  in  those 
times  of  darkness  when  they  acknowledged  a  supremacy  in 
the  Roman  bishops  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical,  yet  would  not 
allow  appeals  to  Home. 

"  The  wisdom  and  experience  of  that  great  council,  the 
English  parliament,  are  more  able  to  prescribe  rules  of  gov- 
ernment and  judge  causes  than  such  poor  rustics  as  a  wilder- 
ness can  breed  up ;  yet  the  vast  distance  between  England  and 
these  parts  abates  the  virtue  of  the  strongest  influences.  Your 
councils  and  judgments  can  neither  be  so  well  grounded,  nor 
so  seasonably  applied,  as  might  either  be  useful  to  us,  or  safe 
for  yourselves,  in  your  discharge,  in  the  great  day  of  account. 
If  any  miscarriage  shall  befall  us  when  we  have  the  govern- 
ment in  our  own  hands,  the  state  of  England  shall  not  answer 
for  it. 

"  Continue  your  favorable  aspect  to  these  infant  planta- 
tions, that  we  may  still  rejoice  and  bless  our  God  under  your 


308  ENGLISH   PEOPLE   IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xyiii. 

shadow,  and  be  there  still  nourished  with  the  warmth  and 
dews  of  heaven.  Coniirm  our  liberties ;  discountenance  our 
enemies,  the  disturbers  of  our  peace  under  pretence  of  our 
injustice.  A  gracious  testimony  of  your  wonted  favor  will 
oblige  us  and  our  posterity." 

In  the  same  spirit,  Edward  Winslow,  the  agent  for  Massa- 
chusetts in  England,  publicly  denied  that  the  jurisdiction  of 
parliament  extended  to  America.  "  If  the  parliament  of  Eng- 
land should  impose  laws  upon  us,  having  no  burgesses  in  the 
house  of  commons,  nor  capable  of  a  summons  by  reason  of  the 
vast  distance,  we  should  lose  the  liberties  and  freedom  of  En  a:- 
lish  indeed."  In  the  Long  Parliament,  the  doctrine  of  colonial 
equality  was  received  with  favor.  *'  Sir  Henry  Yane,  though 
he  might  have  taken  occasion  against  the  colony  for  some  dis- 
honor which  he  apprehended  to  have  been  unjustly  put  upon 
him  there,  yet  showed  himself  a  true  friend  to  E"ew  England, 
and  a  man  of  a  noble  and  generous  mind."  In  1647,  after 
ample  deliberation,  the  committee  of  parliament  magnani- 
mously replied :  ''  We  encourage  no  appeals  from  your  jus- 
tice. We  leave  you  with  all  the  freedom  and  latitude  that 
may,  in  any  respect,  be  duly  claimed  by  you." 

Hardly  five-and-twenty  persons  could  be  found  in  Massa- 
chusetts to  join  in  a  complaint  against  the  strictness  of  the 
government ;  and  when  the  discontented  introduced  the  dis- 
pute into  the  elections,  their  candidates  were  routed. 

The  people  and  the  elders  were  in  harmony ;  and  the  rela- 
tion of  the  church  to  the  state  was  now  more  elaborately  in- 
wrought into  the  laws.  The  synod  which  first  convened  at 
Cambridge,  in  September,  1646,  after  two  adjournments  and 
nearly  two  years  of  reflection,  framed  what  they  called  a  "  Plat- 
form of  church  discipline  gathered  out  of  the  word  of  God."  In 
the  main,  it  upheld  the  principle  of  the  independence  of  each 
church ;  but  it  suffered  councils,  composed  of  elders  and  other 
messengers  of  churches,  to  advise,  to  admonish,  and  to  with- 
hold fellowship  from,  a  church,  but  not  to  exercise  censures  in 
the  way  of  discipline,  nor  any  act  of  authority  or  jurisdiction. 
If  any  church  should  rend  itself  from  the  communion  of  the 
other  churches,  none  but  the  magistrate  might  put  forth  co- 
ercive power.     The  general  court,  to  whom  the  Platform  was 


1650-1655.  MASSACHUSETTS.  309 

referred  for  consideration  and  acceptance,  tardily  submitted  it 
to  the  judgment  and  approbation  of  the  several  churches  with- 
in the  jurisdiction.  Not  till  October,  1651,  did  the  legislature 
give  their  own  testimony  to  this  book  of  discipline,  that  in 
substance  it  was  what  "  they  had  practised  and  did  believe." 
In  this  way  the  Congregational  churches  of  Massachusetts 
planted  themselves  between  the  government  by  presbyters  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  unconnected  independence  of  each  indi- 
vidual association  on  the  other. 

The  Long  Parliament  asserted  its  power  over  the  royalist 
colonies  in  general  terms,  which  seemed  alike  to  threaten  the 
plantations  of  the  north ;  and,  after  royalty  was  abolished,  it 
invited  Massachusetts  to  receive  a  new  patent,  and  to  hold 
courts  and  issue  warrants  in  its  name.  But  the  men  of  that 
commonwealth  were  too  wary  to  merge  their  rights  in  the  acts 
of  a  government  which,  as  they  saw,  was  passing  away.  In 
a  public  state  paper,  they  refused  to  submit  to  its  requisitions, 
and  yet  never  carried  their  remonstrance  beyond  the  point 
which  their  charter  appeared  to  them  to  warrant. 

In  1651,  after  the  successes  of  Cromwell  in  Ireland,  he  of- 
fered the  inhabitants  of  'New  England  estates  and  a  settlement 
in  the  island.  His  offers  were  declined ;  for  the  emigrants 
loved  their  land  of  refuge,  where  their  own  courage  and  toils 
had  established  "the  liberties  of  the  gospel  in  its  purity." 
Our  government,  they  said  among  themselves,  "  is  the  hap- 
piest and  wisest  this  day  in  the  world." 

The  war  which  was  carried  on,  from  1651  to  1654,  between 
England  and  Holland,  hardly  disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  the 
colonies.  The  western  settlements,  which  would  have  suffered 
extreme  misery  from  a  combined  attack  of  the  Indians  and  the 
Putch,  were  earnest  for  attempting  to  reduce  New  Amsterdam, 
and  thus  to  carry  the  boundary  of  New  England  to  the  Dela- 
ware. At  a  meeting  of  the  commissioners  at  Boston,  three  of 
the  four  united  colonies  declared  for  war  ;  yet  the  dissentient 
Massachusetts  interposed  delay ;  cited  the  opinions  of  its  elders 
that  "  it  was  most  agreeable  to  the  gospel  of  peace  and  safest 
for  the  colonies  to  forbear  the  use  of  the  sword ; "  and  at  last 
refused  to  be  governed  by  the  decision.  The  refusal  was  a 
plain  breach  of  covenant,  and  led  to  earnest  remonstrance  and 


310  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xviii. 

altercations.  The  nature  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  confederacy  became  the  subject  of  animated  dis- 
cussion ;  and  the  union  would  have  come  to  an  end  had  not 
Massachusetts  receded,  though  tardily,  from  her  interpretation 
of  the  articles ;  but  in  the  mean  time  the  occasion  for  war  with 
Manhattan  had  passed  away. 

In  1654,  a  ship  which  had  a  short  passage  brought  word 
that  the  European  republics  had  composed  their  strife,  before 
the  English  fleet,  which  was  sent  against  JS'ew  IS'etherland, 
reached  America.  There  was  peace  between  England  and 
France ;  yet  the  English  forces,  turning  to  the  north,  made 
the  easy  conquest  of  Acadia,  an  acquisition  which  no  remon- 
strance or  complaint  could  induce  the  protector  to  restore. 

The  inhabitants  of  'New  England  were  satisfied  that  Crom- 
well's battles  were  the  battles  of  the  Lord ;  and  "  the  spirits 
of  the  brethren  were  carried  forth  in  faithful  and  affectionate 
prayers  in  his  behalf."  Cromwell,  in  return,  confessed  to  them 
that  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  where  "  some,  who  were  godly," 
were  fought  into  their  graves,  was,  of  all  the  acts  of  his  life, 
that  on  which  his  mind  had  the  least  quiet ;  and  he  declared 
himseK  "  truly  ready  to  serve  the  brethren  and  the  churches  " 
in  America.  The  declaration  was  sincere.  The  people  of 
New  England  were  ever  sure  that  Cromwell  would  listen  to 
their  requests,  and  would  take  an  interest  in  the  details  of  their 
condition.  He  left  them  independence,  and  favored  their 
trade.  The  American  colonies  remember  the  years  of  his 
power  as  the  period  when  British  sovereignty  was  for  them 
free  from  rapacity,  intolerance,  and  oppression.  He  may  be 
called  the  benefactor  of  the  English  in  America ;  for  in  his 
time  they  enjoyed  freedom  of  industry,  of  commerce,  of  re- 
ligion, and  of  government. 


1651-1658.    THE  PLACE  OF  PURITANISM  IN  HISTORY.      311 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

THE   PLACE   OF   PURITANISM  IN   HISTORY. 

Yet  the  Puritans  of  New  England  perceived  that  their 
security  rested  on  the  personal  character  of  the  protector,  and 
that  other  revolutions  were  ripening ;  they,  therefore,  never 
allowed  their  vigilance  to  be  lulled.  With  the  influence  of 
the  elders,  the  spirit  of  independence  was  confirmed ;  but  the 
evils  ensued  that  are  in  some  measure  inseparable  from  a  re- 
ligious establishment ;  the  severity  of  the  laws  was  sharpened 
against  infidelity  and  against  dissent. 

Saltonstall  wrote  from  Europe  that,  but  for  their  severities, 
the  people  of  Massachusetts  would  have  been  "  the  eyes  of 
God's  people  in  England."  Sir  Henry  Yane,  in  1651,  had 
urged  that  "  the  oppugners  of  the  Congregational  way  should 
not,  from  its  own  principles  and  practice,  be  taught  to  root  it 
out."  "  It  were  better,"  he  added,  "  not  to  censure  any  per- 
sons for  matters  of  a  religious  concernment."  The  elder  Win- 
throp  relented  before  his  death,  and  professed  himself  weary 
of  banishing  heretics  ;  the  younger  Winthrop  never  harbored 
a  thought  of  intolerant  cruelty ;  but  the  rugged  Dudley  was 
not  mellowed  by  old  age.  "  God  forbid,"  said  he,  "  our  love 
for  the  truth  should  be  grown  so  cold  that  we  should  tolerate 
errors.  I  die  no  libertine."  "  Better  tolerate  hypocrites  and 
tares  than  thorns  and  briers,"  affirmed  Cotton.  "  Polypiety," 
echoed  Ward,  "  is  the  greatest  impiety  in  the  world.  To  say 
that  men  ought  to  have  liberty  of  conscience  is  impious  ignor- 
ance." ^'  Peligion,"  said  the  melancholic  Norton,  "admits  of  -, 
no  eccentric  motions."  But  Massachusetts  was  in  the  state  of  I 
transition  when  expiring  bigotry  exhibited  its  worst  aspect.      ^ 

In  1651,  John  Clarke,  the  tolerant  Baptist  of  Rhode  Island, 


ai5l  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     paet  i.  ;  oh.  xix. 

one  of  the  purest  and  most  disinterested  patriots,  as  he  began 
to  preach  to  a  small  audience  in  Lynn,  was  seized  by  the  civil 
officers.  Being  compelled  to  attend  public  worship  with  the 
congregation  of  the  town,  he  expressed  his  aversion  by  an 
indecorum,  which  would  have  been  without  excuse  had  his 
presence  been  voluntary.  He  and  his  companions  were  tried, 
and  condemned  to  pay  fines  of  twenty  or  thirty  pounds ;  one 
of  them,  who  refused  to  pay,  was  whipped  unmercifully. 

Since  a  particular  form  of  worship  had  become  a  part  of 
the  civil  establishment,  irreligion  was  a  civil  offence.  Treason 
against  the  civil  government  was  treason  against  Christ ;  and 
reciprocally,  as  the  gospel  had  the  right  paramount,  blasphemy, 
or  what  a  jury  should  call  blasphemy,  was  the  highest  offence 
in  the  catalogue  of  crimes.  To  deny  any  book  of  the  Old  or 
'New  Testament  to  be  the  written  and  infallible  word  of  God 
was  punishable  by  fine  or  by  stripes,  and,  in  case  of  obstinacy, 
by  exile  or  death.  Absence  from  "  the  ministry  of  the  word" 
was  punished  by  a  fine. 

By  degrees  the  spirit  of  the  establishment  began  to  subvert 
the  fundamental  principles  of  independency.  The  liberty  of 
prophesying  was  refused,  except  the  approbation  of  four 
elders,  or  of  a  county  court,  had  been  obtained.  The  union  of 
church  and  state  was  fast  corrupting  both.  In  1658,  the  gen- 
eral court  claimed  for  itself,  for  the  council,  and  for  any  two 
organic  churches,  the  right  of  silencing  any  person  who  was 
not  as  yet  ordained.  The  uncompromising  Congregationalists 
of  Massachusetts  indulged  the  passions  of  their  English  perse- 
cutors. 

The  early  Quakers  in  New  England  appeared  like  a  mot- 
ley tribe  of  persons — half  fanatic,  half  insane,  and  without 
definite  purposes.  Persecution  called  them  forth  to  show 
what  intensity  of  will  can  dwell  in  the  depths  of  the  human 
heart. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1656,  Mary  Fisher  and  Ann  Austin 
arrived  in  the  road  before  Boston.  There  was  as  yet  no  stat- 
ute respecting  Quakers  ;  but,  on  the  general  law  against  heresy, 
their  trunks  were  searched  and  their  books  burnt  by  the 
hangman ;  "  though  no  token  could  be  found  on  them  but  of 
innocence,"  their  persons  were  examined  in  search  of  signs  of 


1656-1659.    MASSACHUSETTS  AND  THE  QUAKERS.  313 

witchcraft ;  and,  after  ^ve  weeks'  close  imprisonment,  they 
were  thrust  out  of  the  jurisdiction.  During  the  year,  eight 
others  were  sent  back  to  England.  Mary  Fisher  repaired 
alone  to  Adrianople,  and  delivered  a  message  to  the  Grand 
Sultan.  The  Turks  thought  her  crazed,  and  she  passed 
through  their  army  "  without  hurt  or  scoff." 

The  next  year,  although  a  special  law  had  prohibited  the 
introduction  of  Quakers,  Mary  Dyar,  an  Antinomian  exile, 
and  Ann  Burden,  came  into  the  colony;  the  former  was 
claimed  by  her  husband,  and  taken  to  Rhode  Island ;  the  lat- 
ter was  sent  to  England.  A  woman  who  had  come  all  the 
way  from  London  to  warn  the  magistrates  against  persecu- 
tion, was  whipped  with  twenty  stripes.  Some,  who  had  been 
banished,  came  a  second  time ;  they  were  imprisoned,  whipped, 
and  once  more  sent  away,  under  penalty  of  further  punish- 
ment if  they  returned  again.  A  fine  was  imposed  on  such  as 
should  entertain  any  "  of  the  accursed  sect."  A  payment  of 
ten  shillings  was  the  penalty  for  being  present  at  a  Quaker 
meeting,  of  ^ve  pounds  for  speaking  at  such  a  meeting.  In 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  the  pride  of  consistency  involved 
the  magistrates  in  acts  of  extreme  cruelty.  But  Quakers 
swarmed  where  they  were  feared.  They  came  expressly  be- 
cause they  were  not  welcome,  and  threats  were  construed  as 
invitations. 

In  1658,  the  government  of  Massachusetts  resolved  to  fol- 
low the  advice  of  the  commissioners  for  the  United  Colonies, 
from  which  the  younger  Winthrop  alone  had  dissented.    Will- 
ing that  the  Quakers  should  live  in  peace  in  any  other  part  of 
the  wide  world,  yet  desiring  effectually  to  deter  them  from 
coming  within  its  jurisdiction,  the  general  court,  after  much 
resistance,  and  by  a  majority  of  but  a  single  vote,  banished 
them  on  pain  of  death.     "  For  the  security  of  the  flock,"  said 
Norton,  "  we  pen  up  the  wolf ;  but  a  door  is  purposely  left 
open  whereby  he  may  depart  at  his  pleasure."     Yain  legisla-^ 
tion!  and  frivolous  apology!     The  soul,  by  its  freedom  and^ 
immortality,  preserves  its  convictions  or  its  frenzies  amidsty 
the  threat  of  death. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  Quakers  were  extravagant  and 
foolish ;  they  cried  out  from  the  windows  at  the  magistrates 
VOL.  I. — 2a 


314  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN   AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xix. 

and  ministers  that  passed  by,  and  mocked  the  civil  and  relig- 
ious institutions  of  the  country.  They  riotously  interrupted 
public  worship ;  and  women,  forgetting  the  decorum  of  their 
sex,  and  claiming  a  scriptural  precedent  for  their  caprices, 
smeared  their  faces,  and  even  went  naked  through  the  streets. 

Prohibiting  the  coming  of  Quakers  was  not  persecution ; 
and  banishment  is  a  term  hardly  to  be  used  of  one  who  has 
not  acquired  a  home.  The  magistrates  of  Massachusetts  left 
all  in  peace  but  the  noisy  brawlers,  and  left  to  them  the  op- 
portunity of  escape.  The  four,  of  whose  death  New  England 
was  guilty,  fell  victims  rather  to  the  contest  of  will  than  to 
the  opinion  that  Quakerism  was  a  capital  crime. 

In  September,  1659,  of  four  persons  ordered  to  depart  the 
jurisdiction  on  pain  of  death,  Mary  Dyar,  a  firm  disciple  of 
Anne  Hutchinson  whose  exile  she  had  shared,  and  Nicholas 
Davis,  obeyed.  Marmaduke  Stephenson  and  William  Robin- 
son had  come  on  purpose  to  offer  their  lives;  instead  of 
departing,  they  went  from  place  to  place  "  to  build  up  their 
friends  in  the  faith."  In  October,  Mary  Dyar  returned. 
These  three  persons  were  arraigned  on  the  sanguinary  law. 
Robinson  pleaded  in  his  defence  the  special  message  and  com- 
mand of  God.  "  Blessed  be  God,  who  calls  me  to  testify 
against  wicked  and  unjust  men."  Stephenson  refused  to 
speak  till  sentence  had  been  pronounced ;  and  then  he  impre- 
cated a  curse  on  his  judges.  Mary  Dyar  exclaimed :  "  The 
will  of  the  Lord  be  done  ; "  and  returned  to  the  prison  "  full 
of  joy."  From  the  jail  she  wrote  a  remonstrance.  "  Were 
ever  such  laws  heard  of  among  a  people  that  profess  Christ 
come  in  the  flesh  ?  Have  you  no  other  weapons  but  such  laws 
to  fight  against  spiritual  wickedness  withal,  as  you  call  it?" 
The  three  were  led  forth  to  execution.  "  I  die  for  Christ," 
said  Robinson.  "We  suffer  not  as  evil-doers,  but  for  con- 
science' sake,"  were  the  last  words  of  his  companion.  Mary 
Dyar  was  reprieved ;  yet  not  till  the  rope  had  been  fastened 
ronnd  her  neck,  and  she  had  prepared  herself  for  death. 
Transported  with  enthusiasm,  she  exclaimed  :  "  Let  me  suffer 
as  my  brethren,  unless  you  annul  your  wicked  law."  She 
was  conveyed  out  of  the  colony ;  but,  soon  returning,  she  was 
hanged  on  Boston  common. 


1659.  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  THE   QUAKERS.  315 

These  cruelties  excited  great  discontent.  Yet  William 
Leddra  was  arraigned  for  the  same  causes.  While  the  trial 
was  proceeding,  Wenlock  Christison,  already  banished  on  pain 
of  death,  entered  the  court,  and  struck  dismay  into  the  judges, 
who  found  their  severities  ineffectual.  Leddra  was  desired 
to  accept  his  life,  on  condition  of  promising  to  come  no  more 
within  the  jurisdiction.     He  refused,  and  was  hanged. 

Christison  met  his  persecutors  with  undaunted  courage. 
"  By  what  law,"  he  demanded,  "  will  ye  put  me  to  death  ? " 
"  We  have  a  law,''  it  was  answered,  "  and  by  it  you  are  to 
die."  "'  So  said  the  Jews  to  Christ.  But  who  empowered  you 
to  make  that  law?"  "We  have  a  patent,  and  may  make  our 
own  laws."  "  Can  you  make  laws  repugnant  to  those  of  Eng- 
land ? "  "  ]^o."  "  Then  you  are  gone  beyond  your  bounds. 
Your  heart  is  as  rotten  toward  the  king  as  toward  God.  I 
demand  to  be  tried  by  the  laws  of  England,  and  there  is  no 
law  there  to  hang  Quakers."  "  The  English  banish  Jesuits  on 
pain  of  death ;  and  with  equal  justice  we  may  banish  Quakers." 
The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty.  The  magistrates  were 
divided  in  pronouncing  sentence ;  the  vote  was  put  a  second 
time,  and  there  appeared  a  majority  for  the  doom  of  death. 
"  What  do  you  gain,"  cried  Christison,  "  by  taking  Quakers' 
lives  ?  For  the  last  man  that  ye  put  to  death,  here  are  five' 
come  in  his  room.  If  ye  have  power  to  take  my  life,  God 
can  raise  up  ten  of  his  servants  in  my  stead." 

The  people  were  averse  to  taking  Quakers'  lives ;  the  mag- 
istrates, infatuated  for  a  season,  became  convinced  of  their 
error ;  Christison,  with  twenty-seven  of  his  friends,  was  dis- 
charged from  prison ;  and  the  doctrine  of  toleration,  with 
pledges  of  peace,  was  soon  to  be  received. 

The  victims  of  intolerance  met  death  bravely ;  they  would 
be  entitled  to  perpetual  honor  were  it  not  that  their  own  mad 
extravagances  occasioned  the  foul  enactment,  to  repeal  which' 
they  laid  down  their  lives.  Causes  were  already  in  action 
which  were  fast  substituting  the  charity  of  intelligence  for 
bigotry.  It  was  ever  the  custom,  and,  in  1642,  it  became  the 
law,  in  Puritan  'New  England,  that  "none  of  the  brethren 
shall  suffer  so  much  barbarism  in  their  families  as  not  to  teach 
their  children  and  apprentices  so  much  learning  as  may  enable 


.316  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    part  i.  ;  ch.  xix. 

them  perfectly  to  read  the  English  tongue."  "  To  the  end 
that  learning  may  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  fore- 
fathers," in  1647  it  was  ordered  in  all  the  Puritan  colonies 
"  that  every  township,  after  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to 
the  number  of  fifty  householders,  shall  appoint  one  to  teach 
all  children  to  read  and  write ;  and  where  any  town  shall 
increase  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  families,  they  shall  set 
up  a  grammar  school,  the  masters  thereof  being  able  to  in- 
struct youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  university." 
The  press  began  its  work  in  1639.  "When  ^N'ew  England 
was  poor,  and  they  were  but  few  in  number,  there  was  a  spirit 
to  encourage  learning."  Harvard  College  was  a  favorite  from 
its  beginning ;  Connecticut  and  Plymouth,  and  the  towns  in 
the  east,  often  contributed  offerings  to  promote  the  success  of 
that  "  school  of  the  prophets  ; "  the  gift  of  the  rent  of  a  ferry 
was  a  proof  of  the  care  of  the  state ;  and  once,  at  least,  every 
family  in  each  of  the  colonies  gave  to  the  college  at  Cam- 
bridge twelvepence,  or  a  peck  of  com,  or  its  value  in  unadul- 
terated wampum  peag ;  while  the  magistrates  and  wealthier 
men  were  profuse  in  their  liberality.  The  college,  in  return, 
assisted  in  forming  the  early  character  of  the  country.  In 
these  measures,  especially  in  the  laws  establishing  common 
schools,  lies  the  secret  of  the  success  and  character  of  New 
England.  Every  child,  as  it  was  born  into  the  world,  was 
lifted  from  the  earth  by  the  ordinance  of  the  country,  and, 
in  the  statutes  of  the  land,  received,  as  its  birthright,  a  pledge 
of  the  public  care  for  its  morals  and  its  mind. 

There  are  some  who  love  to  enumerate  the  singularities  of 
the  early  Puritans.  They  were  opposed  to  wigs ;  they  could 
preach  against  veils ;  they  denounced  long  hair ;  they  disliked 
the  cross  in  the  banner,  as  much  as  the  people  of  Paris  dis- 
liked the  lilies  of  the  Bourbons.  They  would  not  allow 
Christmas  to  be  kept  sacred ;  they  called  neither  months,  nor 
days,  nor  seasons,  nor  churches,  nor  inns,  by  the  names  com- 
mon in  England;  they  revived  scripture  names  at  christen- 
ings. The  grave  Eomans  legislated  on  the  costume  of  men, 
and  their  senate  could  even  stoop  to  interfere  with  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  sex  to  which  civic  honors  were  denied ;  the 
fathers  of  New  England  prohibited  frivolous  fashions  in  their 


THE  PLACE  OF  PURITANISM  IN  HISTORY.  317 

own  dress;  and  their  austerity,  checking  extravagance  even 
in  woman,  frowned  on  her  hoods  of  silk  and  her  scarfs  of 
tiffany,  extended  her  sleeve  to  the  wrist,  and  limited  its 
greatest  width  to  half  an  ell.  The  Puritans  were  formal 
and  precise  in  their  manners ;  singular  in  the  forms  of  their 
legislation.  Every  topic  of  the  day  found  a  place  in  their 
extemporaneous  prayers,  and  infused  a  stirring  interest  into 
their  long  and  frequent  sermons.  The  courts  of  Massachu- 
setts respected  in  practice  the  code  of  Moses ;  in  New  Haven, 
the  members  of  the  constituent  committee  were  called  the 
seven  pillars,  hewn  out  for  the  house  of  wisdom.*^  But  these 
are  only  forms,  which  gave  to  the  new  faith  a  marked  exterior. 
If  from  the  outside  peculiarities  we  look  to  the  genius  of  the 
sect  itself,  Puritanism  had  two  cardinal  principles :  Faith  in 
the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God,  whose  will  is  perfect  right ; 
and  the  Equality  of  all  who  believe  that  his  will  is  to  be  done. 
It  was  Religion  struggling  in,  with,  and  for  the  People ;  a 
war  against  tyranny  and  superstition.  "  Its  absurdities,"  says 
one  of  its  scoffers,  "were  the  shelter  for  the  noble  princi- 
ples of  liberty."  It  was  its  office  to  engraft  the  new  institu- 
tions of  popular  energy  upon  the  old  European  system  of  a 
feudal  aristocracy  and  popular  servitude ;  the  good  was  per- 
manent ;  the  outward  emblems,  which  were  the  signs  of  the 
party,  were  of  transient  duration,  like  the  clay  and  ligaments 
which  hold  the  graft  in  its  place,  and  are  brushed  away  as 
soon  as  the  scion  is  firmly  united. 

The  principles  of  Puritanism  proclaimed  the  civil  magis- 
trate subordinate  to  the  authority  of  religion  ;  and  its  haughti- 
ness in  this  respect  has  been  compared  to  "the  infatuated 
arrogance  "  of  a  Roman  pontiff.  In  the  firmness  with  which 
their  conviction  was  held,  the  Puritans  did  not  yield  to  the 
Catholics ;  and,  if  the  will  of  God  is  the  criterion  of  justice, 
both  were,  in  one  sense,  in  the  right.  The  question  arises, 
Who  shall  be  the  interpreter  of  that  will?  In  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  the  office  was  claimed  by  the  infallible  pon- 
tiff, who,  as  the  self-constituted  guardian  of  the  oppressed, 
insisted  on  the  power  of  dethroning  kings,  repealing  laws,  and 
subverting  dynasties.  The  principle  thus  asserted  could  not 
but  become  subservient  to  the  temporal  ambition  of  the  clergy. 


318  EifGLISH  PEOPLE  IK  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  oh.  xix. 

Puritanism  conceded  no  such  power  to  its  spiritual  guides ;  the 
ehurcli  existed  independent^  of  its  pastor,  who  owed  his  office 
td^fts  free  choice ;  the  will  of  the  majority  was  its  law ;  j,nd 
each  one  of  the  brethren  possessed  equal  rights  with  the 
elders.  The  right,  exercised  by  each  congregation,  of  elect- 
ing its  own  ministers  was  in  itself  a  moral  revolution ;  religion 
was  now  with  the  people,  not  over  the  people.  Puritanism 
exalted  the  laity.  Every  individual  who  had  experienced 
the  raptures  of  devotion,  every  believer,  who  in  moments  of 
ecstasy  had  felt  the  assurance  of  the  favor  of  God,  was  in  his 
own  eyes  a  consecrated  person,  chosen  to  do  the  noblest  and 
godliest  deeds.  For  him  the  wonderful  counsels  of  the  Al- 
mighty had  appointed  a  Saviour ;  for  him  the  laws  of  nature 
had  been  suspended  and  controlled,  the  heavens  had  opened, 
earth  had  quaked,  the  sun  had  veiled  his  face,  and  Christ  had 
died  and  had  risen  again ;  for  him  prophets  and  apostles  had 
revealed  to  the  world  the  oracles  and  the  will  of  God.  Before 
Heaven  he  prostrated  himself  in  the  dust ;  looking  out  upon 
mankind,  how  could  he  but  respect  himself,  whom  God  had 
chosen  and  redeemed?  He  cherished  hope;  he  possessed 
faith;  as  he  walked  the  earth,  his  heart  was  in  the  skies. 
Angels  hovered  round  his  path,  charged  to  minister  to  his 
soul;  spirits  of  darkness  vainly  leagued  together  to  tempt 
him  from  his  allegiance.  His  burning  piety  could  use  no 
liturgy;  his  penitence  revealed  itself  to  no  confessor.  He 
knew  no  superior  in  holiness.  He  could  as  little  become  the 
slave  of  priestcraft  as  of  a  despot.  He  was  himself  a  judge 
of  the  orthodoxy  of  the  elders ;  and,  if  he  feared  the  invisible 
powers  of  the  air,  of  darkness,  and  of  hell,  he  feared  nothing 
on  earth.  Puritanism  constituted  not  the  Christian  clergy, 
but  the  Christian  people,  the  interpreter  of  the  divine  will ; 
and  the  issue  of  Puritanism  was  popular  sovereignty. 

The"dSects  of  Puritanism~"^3t5piay4ts^haracter  still  more 
distinctly.  Ecclesiastical  tyranny  is  of  all  kinds  the  worst; 
its  fruits  are  cowardice,  idleness,  ignorance,  and  poverty : 
Puritanism  was  a  life-giving  spirit ;  activity,  thrift,  intelli- 
gence, followed  in  its  frain ;  and,  as  for  courage,  a  coward 
and  a  Puritan  never  went  together. 

The  history  of  religious  persecution  in  !N'ew  England  is  this : 


THE  PLACE  OF  PURITANISM  IN  HISTORY.  319 

the  Puritans  established  a  government  in  America  such  as  the 
laws  of  natural  justice  warranted,  and  such  as  the  statutes  and 
common  law  of  England  did  not  warrant ;  and  that  was  done 
bj  men  who  still  acknowledged  a  limited  allegiance  to  the 
parent  state.  The  Episcopalians  declared  themselves  the  ene- 
mies of  the  party,  and  waged  against  it  a  war  of  extermina- 
tion; Puritanism  excluded  them  from  its  asylum.  Roger^ 
Williams,  the  ap.0^ tie  of  "soul-liberty,"  weakened  civil  inder 
pendence  by  impairing  its  unity ;  and  he  was  expelled,  even 
though  Massachusetts  bore  good  testimony  to  his  spotless  vir- 
tues. Wheelwright  and  his  friends,  in  their  zeal  for  liberty 
of  speech,  were  charged  with  forgetting  their  duty  as  citizens, 
and  they  also  were  exiled.  The  Anabaptist,  who  could  not 
be  relied  upon  as  an  ally,  was  watched  as  possibly  a  foe.  The 
Quakers  denounced  the  worship  of  New  England  as  an  abom- 
ination, and  its  government  as  treason  ;  and  they  were  excluded 
on  pain  of  death.  The  fanatic  for  Calvinism  was  a  fanatic 
for  liberty ;  and,  in  the Inoral  warfare  for  freedom,  his  creed 
was  his  most  faithful  counsellor  and  his  never-failing  support. 

For  "  New  England  was  a  religious  plantation,  not  a  plan- 
tation for  trade.  The  profession  of  the  purity  of  doctrine, 
worship,  and  discipline  was  written  on  her  forehead."  "  We 
all,"  says  the  confederacy  in  one  of  the  two  oldest  of  Ameri- 
can written  constitutions,  "  came  into  these  parts  of  America 
to  enjoy  the  liberties  of  the  gospel  in  purity  and  peace." 
"  He  that  made  religion  as  twelve,  and  the  world  as  thirteen, 
had  not  the  spirit  of  a  true  New  England  man."  Religion, 
wflfljhe  object  of  the^mjgrants.  and  it  was  their  consolation. 
With  this  the  wounds  of  the  outcast  were  healed,  and  the 
tears  of  exile  sweetened. 

Of  all  contemporary  sects,  the  Puritans  were  the  most  free 
from  credulity,  and,  in  their  zeal  for  reform,  pushed  their 
regulations  to  what  some  would  consider  a  skeptical  extreme. 
So  many  superstitions  had  been  bundled  up  with  every  vener- 
able institution  of  Europe  that  ages  have  not  yet  dislodged 
them  all.  The  Puritans  at  once  emancipated  themselves  from 
the  thraldom  to  observances.  They  established  a  worship 
purely  spiritual.  They  stood  in  prayer.  To  them  the  ele- 
ments remained  but  wine  and  bread,  and  in  communing  they 


-f 


320  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,     part  i.  ;  oh.  xix. 

would  not  kneel.  They  invoked  no  saints;  they  raised  no 
altar;  they  adored  no  crucifix;  they  kissed  no  book;  they 
asked  no  absolution ;  they  paid  no  tithes ;  they  saw  in  the 
priest  nothing  more  sacred  than  a  man ;  ordination  was  no 
more  than  an  approbation  of  the  ofiicer,  which  might  be  ex- 
pressed by  the  brethren  just  as  well  as  by  other  ministers ; 
the  church,  as  a  place  of  worship,  was  to  them  but  a  meeting- 
house ;  they  dug  no  graves  in  consecrated  earth ;  unlike  their 
posterity,  they  married  without  a  minister,  and  buried  the 
dead  without  a  prayer.  "Witchcraft  had  not  been  made  the 
subject  of  skeptical  consideration ;  and,  in  the  years  in  which 
Scotland  sacrificed  hecatombs  to  the  delusion,  there  were  three 
victims  in  [N'ew  England.  Dark  crimes,  that  seemed  without 
a  motive,  may  have  been  pursued  under  that  name ;  I  find 
one  record  of  a  trial  for  witchcraft  where  the  prisoner  was 
proved  a  murderess. 

On  every  subject  but  religion  the  mildness  of  Puritan  leg- 
islation corresponded  to  the  popular  character  of  Puritan  doc- 
trines. Hardly  a  nation  of  Europe  has  as  yet  made  its  crjnji- 
nal  law  so  humane  as  that  of  early  'New  England.  A  crowd 
of  offences  was  at  one  sweep  brushed  from  the  catalogue  of 
capital  crimes.  The  idea  -was  never  received  that  the  forfeit- 
ure of  life  may  be  demanded  for  the  protection  of  property ; 
the  punishment  for  theft,  for  burglary,  and  highway  robbery 
was  far  more  mild  than  the  penalties  imposed  even  by  mod- 
ern American  legislation.  The  habits  of  the  young  promoted 
real  chastity.  The  sexes  lived  in  social  intimacy,  and  were 
more  pure  than  the  recluse.  Marriage  was  a  civil  contract ; 
and  under  the  old  charter  of  Massachusetts  all  controversies 
respecting  it  were  determined  by  the  court  of  assistants  which 
decreed  divorces  especially  for  adultery  or  desertion.  The 
rule  in  Connecticut  was  not  different.  Separation  from  bed 
and  board  without  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage,  an  anomaly 
which  may  punish  the  innocent  more  than  the  guilty,  was  ab- 
horrent to  every  thought  of  that  day.  The  sanctity  of  the 
nuptial  vow  was  protected  by  the  penalty  of  death.  If  in  this 
respect  the  laws  were  more  severe,  in  another  they  were  more 
lenient  than  modern  manners  approve.  The  girl  whom  youth 
and  affection  and  the  promise  of  marriage  betrayed  into  weak- 


THE  PLACE  OF  PURITANISM  IN  HISTORY.  321 

ness  was  censured,  pitied,  and  forgiven ;  the  law  compelled 
the  seducer  of  innocence  to  marry  the  person  who  had  im- 
posed every  obligation  by  the  concession  of  every  right.  The 
law  implies  an  extremely  pure  community ;  in  no  other  could 
it  have  found  a  place  in  the  statute-book. 

The  benevolence  of  the  Puritans  appears  from  other 
examples.  Their  thoughts  were  always  fixed  on  posterity. 
Domestic  discipline  was  highly  valued;  the  law  was  severe 
against  the  undutif ul  child ;  and  it  was  severe  against  a  faith- 
less parent.  Till  1654,  the  laws  did  not  permit  any  impris- 
onment for  debt,  except  when  there  was  an  appearance  of 
some  estate  which  the  debtor  would  not  produce.  Even  the 
brute  creation  was  not  forgotten ;  and  cruelty  toward  ammals 
was  a  civil  offence.  The  sympathies  of  the  colonists  were 
wide ;  a  feeling  for  Protestant  Germany  is  as  old  as  emigra- 
tion ;  and  during  the  thirty  years'  war  the  people  of  New  Eng- 
land held  fasts  and  offered  prayers  for  the  success  of  their  Ger- 
man brethren. 

The  earliest  years  of  the  residence  of  Puritans  in  America 
were  years  of  great  hardship  and  affliction ;  this  short  season 
of  distress  was  promptly  followed  by  abundance  and  happi- 
ness. The  people  struck  root  in  the  soil  immediately.  They 
were,  from  the  first,  industrious,  enterprising,  and  frugal; 
and  affluence  followed  of  course.  When  persecution  ceased 
in  England,  there  were  already  in  Kew  England  "  thousands 
who  would  not  change  their  place  for  any  other  in  the  world ;  '* 
and  they  were  tempted  in  vain  with  invitations  to  the  Bahama 
isles,  to  Ireland,  to  Jamaica,  to  Trinidad.  The  purity  of  mor- 
als completes  the  picture  of  colonial  felicity.  "As  Ireland 
will  not  brook  venomous  beasts,  so  will  not  that  land  vile 
livers."  One  might  dwell  there  "  from  year  to  year,  and  not 
see  a  drunkard,  or  hear  an  oath,  or  meet  a  beggar."  As  a 
consequence,  the  average  duration  of  life  in  I^ew  England, 
compared  with  Europe  of  that  day,  was  doubled ;  and,  of  all 
who  were  born  into  the  world,  more  than  two  in  ten,  full  four 
in  nineteen,  attained  the  age  of  seventy.  Of  those  who  lived 
beyond  ninety,  the  proportion,  as  compared  with  European 
tables  of  longevity,  was  still  more  remarkable. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  the  character  of  the  early 


f 


322  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  AMERICA,    paet  i.  ;  ch.  xix. 

Puritans  of  I^ew  England,  for  they  were  the  parents  of  jpne 
third  the  whole  white  population  of  the  United  States  as  it 
was  in  1834.  Within  the  first  fifteen  years — and  there  was 
never  afterward  any  considerable  increase  from  England — we 
have  seen  that  there  came  over  twenty-one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred persons,  or  four  thousand  families.  Their  descendants 
were,  in  1834,  not  far  from  four  millions.  Each  family  had 
multiplied,  on  the  average,  to  one  thousand  souls.  To  New 
York  and  Ohio,  where  they  then  constituted  half  the  popula- 
tion, they  carried  the  Puritan  system  of  free  schools;  and 
their  example  is  spreading  it  through  the  civilized  world. 

Historians  have  loved  to  eulogize  the  manners  and  virtues, 
the  glory  and  the  benefits,  of  chivalry.  Puritanism  accom- 
plished for  mankind  far  more.  If  it  had  the  sectarian  crime 
/  of  intolerance,  chivalry  had  the  vices  of  dissoluteness.  The 
/  knights  were  brave  from  gallantry  of  spirit;  the  Puritans, 
from  the  fear  of  God.  The  knights  obeyed  the  law  of  honor ; 
the  Puritans  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  duty.  The  knights 
were  proud  of  loyalty ;  the  Puritans,  of  liberty.  The  knights 
did  homage  to  monarchs,  in  whose  smile  they  beheld  honor, 
whose  rebuke  was  disgrace ;  the  Puritans,  in  their  disdain  of 
ceremony,  would  not  bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  nor  bend  the 
knee  to  the  King  of  kings.  Chivalry  delighted  in  outward 
show,  favored  pleasure,  multiplied  amusements,  and  degraded 
the  human  race  by  an  exclusive  respect  for  the  privileged 
classes ;  Puritanism  bridled  the  passions,  commanded  the  vir- 
tues of  self-denial,  and  rescued  the  name  of  man  from  dis- 
honor. The  former  valued  courtesy  ;  the  latter,  justice.  The 
former  adorned  society  by  graceful  refinements;  the  latter 
founded  national  grandeur  on  universal  education.  The  in- 
stitutions of  chivalry  were  subverted  by  the  ejradually  increas- 
ing weight  and  knowledge  and  opulence  of  the  industrious 
classes ;  the  Puritans,  rallying  upon  those  classes,  planted  in 
their  hearts  the  undying  principles  of  democratic  liberty. 

The  age  of  Puritanism  was  passing  away.  Time  was 
silently  softening  its  asperities,  and  the  revolutions  of  Eng- 
land prepared  an  era  in  its  fortunes.  Massachusetts  never 
acknowledged  Kichard  Cromwell ;  it  read  in  the  aspect  of 
parties  the  impending  restoration. 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 

UNITED    STATES   OF  AMERICA 
AS    COLONIES. 

IN  THREE  FARTS. 

PART   II. 
BRITISH  AMERICA  ATTAINS  GEOGRAPHICAL  UNITY. 

From  1660  to  1688. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

THE    FALL    AND   KESTORATION   OF   THE    STUARTS. 

The  revolution,  which,  in  1660,  came  to  its  end,  had  been 
in  its  origin  a  democratic  revolution,  and  had  apparently  suc- 
ceeded in  none  of  its  ultimate  purposes.  The  power  of  the 
feudal  aristocracy  had  been  gradually  broken  by  the  increased 
authority  of  the  monarch ;  and  the  people,  beginning  to  claim 
the  lead  in  the  progress  of  humanity,  prepared  to  contend  for 
equality  against  privilege,  as  well  as  for  freedom  against  pre- 
rogative. The  contest  failed,  because  too  much  was  attempted. 
Immediate  emancipation  from  the  past  was  impossible;  he- 
reditary inequalities  were  themselves  endeared  to  the  nation, 
through  the  beneficent  institutions  with  which  they  were  con- 
nected ;  the  mass  of  the  people  was  still  buried  in  listless  igno- 
rance ;  even  for  the  strongest  minds,  public  experience  had  not 
yet  generated  the  principles  by  which  a  reconstruction  of  the 
government  on  a  popular  basis  could  have  been  safely  under- 
taken ;  and  thus  the  democratic  revolution  in  England  was  a 
failure,  alike  from  the  events  and  passions  of  the  fierce  strug- 
gle which  rendered  moderation  impossible,  and  from  the  un- 
ripeness of  the  age,  which  had  not  as  yet  acquired  the  political 
knowledge  that  time  alone  could  generate  or  gather  up. 

Charles  I.  [1629-1640],  inheriting  his  father's  belief  in  the 
unlimited  rights  of  the  king  of  England,  conspired  against  the 
national  constitution,  which  he,  as  the  most  favored  among 
the  natives  of  England,  was  the  most  solemnly  bound  to  pro- 
tect ;  and  he  resolved  to  govern  without  the  aid  of  a  parlia- 
ment. To  convene  one  was  therefore,  in  itself,  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  defeat.  The  house  of  commons,  which  assembled 
in  April,  1640,  was  filled  with  men  not  less  loyal  to  the  mon- 


326     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.;  ch.  i. 

arch  than  faithful  to  the  people  ;  yet  the  king,  offended  by  its 
firmness,  disregarded  the  wishes  of  his  more  prudent  friends, 
and  capriciously  dissolved  a  parliament  more  favorable  to  the 
crown  than  any  which  he  could  again  hope  for. 

The  exercise  of  absolute  power  became  more  and  more 
difficult.  There  were  those  who  refused  to  take  the  oath 
never  to  consent  to  alterations  in  the  church  of  England. 
"  Send  for  the  chief  leaders,"  wrote  Strafford,  "  and  lay  them 
by  the  heels  ;  no  other  satisfaction  is  to  be  thought  of."  But 
Strafford  was  not  without  his  enemies  among  the  royalists. 
During  the  suspension  of  parliament,  two  parties  in  the  cabinet 
had  disputed  with  each  other  for  the  emoluments  of  despot- 
ism. The  ministers  and  the  council  of  state  were  envied  by 
the  queen  and  the  courtiers  ;  and  Strafford  and  Laud  had  as 
bitter  rivals  in  the  palace  as  they  had  enemies  in  the  nation. 
There  was  no  unity  among  the  upholders  of  absolutism. 

The  expedient  of  a  council  of  peers,  convened  in  1640  at 
York,  could  not  satisfy  a  people  that  venerated  representative 
government  as  the  most  valuable  bequest  of  its  ancestors  ;  and 
a  few  weeks  showed  clearly  that  concession  was  necessary. 
The  advisers  of  Charles  hesitated  from  rivalries  and  the  want 
of  plan  ;  while  the  popular  leaders  were  full  of  energy  and 
united  in  the  distinct  purpose  of  limiting  the  royal  authority. 
The  summons  of  a  new  parliament  was,  on  the  part  of  the 
monarch,  a  surrender  at  discretion.  But,  by  the  English  con- 
stitution, the  royal  prerogative  was  in  some  cases  the  bulwark 
of  popular  liberty ;  the  subversion  of  the  royal  authority  made 
a  way  for  the  despotism  of  parliament. 

The  Long  Parliament,  which  met  on  the  third  of  l^ovem- 
ber,  1640,  was  not  originally  homogeneous.  The  usurpations 
of  the  monarch  threatened  the  privileges  of  the  nobility  not 
less  than  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  movement  in  the 
public  mind,  though  it  derived  its  vigor  as  well  as  its  origin 
from  the  influence  of  the  Puritans,  aimed  only  at  raising  an 
impassable  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  royalty.  This 
object  met  with  favor  from  a  majority  of  the  peerage,  and 
from  royalists  among  the  commons;  and  the  past  arbitrary 
measures  of  the  court  found  opponents  in  Hyde,  the  faithful 
counsellor  of  the  Stuarts ;  in  the  more  scrupulous  Falkland, 


1640-1642.     THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  STUARTS.  327 

who  inclined  to  the  popular  side,  till  he  began  to  dread  inno- 
vations from  its  leaders  more  than  from  the  king ;  and  even 
in  Capel,  afterward  one  of  the  bravest  of  the  cavaliers,  and  a 
martyr  on  the  scaffold  for  his  obstinate  fidelity.  When  the 
highest  authority  in  England  began  to  belong  to  the  majority 
in  parliament,  no  republican  party  as  yet  existed  ;  the  first 
division  ensued  between  the  ultra  royalists  and  the  undivided 
friends  of  constitutional  monarchy;  and,  though  the  house 
was  in  a  great  measure  filled  with  members  of  the  aristocracy, 
the  moderate  royalists  united  with  the  friends  of  the  people. 
On  the  choice  of  speaker,  an  immense  majority  appeared  in 
favor  of  the  constitution. 

The  earl  of  Strafford  anticipated  danger,  and  he  desired  to 
remain  in  Ireland.  "  As  I  am  king  of  England,"  said  Charles, 
"  the  parliament  shall  not  touch  one  hair  of  your  head ; "  and 
the  reiterated  urgency  of  the  king  compelled  his  attendance. 
His  arraignment,  within  eight  days  of  the  commencement  of 
the  session,  marks  the  spirit  of  the  commons ;  his  attainder 
was  the  sign  of  their  ascendency.  "  On  the  honor  of  a  king," 
wrote  Charles,  in  April,  1641,  to  the  prisoner,  "  you  shall  not  be 
harmed  in  life,  fortune,  or  honor ; "  and,  the  fourth  day  after 
the  passage  of  the  bill  of  attainder,  the  king  sent  his  adhesion 
to  the  commons,  adding :  "  If  Strafford  must  die,  it  were  char- 
ity to  reprieve  him  till  Saturday."  Men  dreaded  the  service 
of  a  sovereign  whose  love  was  so  worthless,  and  whose  pre- 
rogative was  so  weak ;  and  the  parliament  proceeded  without 
control  to  its  work  of  reform.  Its  earliest  acts  were  worthy 
of  all  praise.  The  liberties  of  the  people  were  recovered  and 
strengthened  by  appropriate  safeguards ;  the  arbitrary  courts 
of  high  commission  and  the  court  of  wards  were  broken  up ; 
the  star-chamber,  doubly  hated  by  the  aristocracy,  as  '^  ever  a 
great  eclipse  to  the  whole  nobility,"  was  with  one  voice  abol- 
ished ;  the  administration  of  justice  was  rescued  from  the  para- 
mount influence  of  the  crown ;  and  taxation,  except  by  con- 
sent, was  forbidden.  The  principle  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  was  introduced;  and  the  kingdom  of  England  was 
lifted  out  of  the  bondage  of  feudalism  by  a  series  of  reforms, 
which  were  afterward  renewed,  and  which,  when  successfully 
embodied  among  the  statutes,  the  commentator  on  English  law 


328    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  i. 

esteemed  above  Magna  Charta  itself.  These  measures  were 
adopted  almost  without  opposition,  and  received  the  nearly 
unanimous  assent  of  the  nation.  They  were  truly  English 
measures,  directed  in  part  against  abuses  introduced  at  the 
E^orman  conquest,  in  part  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
sovereign.  They  wiped  away  the  traces  that  England  had  been 
governed  as  a  conquered  country ;  they  were  in  harmony  with 
the  intelligence  and  the  pride,  the  prejudices  and  the  wants, 
of  England.     Public  opinion  was  the  ally  of  the  parliament. 

But  an  act  declaring  that  the  parliament  should  neither  be 
prorogued  nor  dissolved,  unless  with  its  own  consent,  had  been 
urged  with  pertinacity,  till  it  received  the  royal  concurrence. 
Parliament,  in  its  turn,  set  aside  the  constitution,  by  establish- 
ing its  own  paramount  authority,  and  making  itself  virtually 
irresponsible  to  its  constituents.  The  usurpation  foreboded 
the  overthrow  of  the  throne  and  the  subjection  of  the  people. 

As  the  demands  of  the  commons  advanced,  stormy  debates 
ensued.  In  JS'ovember,  1641,  the  remonstrance  on  the  state 
of  the  kingdom,  an  uncompromising  manifesto  against  the  ar- 
bitrary measures  of  Charles,  proposed  no  specific  reform,  but 
was  rather  a  general  and  passionate  appeal  to  popular  opinion. 
The  English  mind  was  as  restless  as  the  waves  of  the  ocean  by 
which  the  isle  is  environed ;  the  remonstrance  was  designed  to 
increase  that  restlessness ;  in  a  house  of  more  than  five  hun- 
dred members,  it  was  adopted  by  the  meagre  majority  of 
eleven.  "  Had  it  not  been  carried,"  said  Cromwell  to  Falk- 
land, "  I  should  have  sold  all  I  possess,  and  left  the  kingdom ; 
many  honest  men  were  of  the  same  resolution."  From  the 
contest  for  "  English  liberties,"  men  advanced  to  the  discus- 
sion of  natural  rights ;  with  the  expansion  of  their  views,  their 
purposes  ceased  to  be  definite ;  reform  was  changing  into  a 
revolution ;  and  it  was  observable  that  religious  faith  was  on 
the  side  of  innovation,  while  incredulity  abounded  among  the 
supporters  of  the  established  church  and  the  divine  right. 

The  king  had  yielded  where  he  should  have  been  firm; 
moderation  and  sincerity  would  have  restored  his  influence. 
But  when,  in  January,  1642,  attended  by  armed  men,  he  re- 
paired in  person  to  the  house  of  commons,  with  the  intent  of 
seizing  six  of  the  leaders  of  the  patriot  party,  the  attempt,  so 


1642-1644.      THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  STUARTS.  329 

bloody  in  its  purpose  and  so  illegal  in  its  course,  could  only 
justify  for  the  time  every  diminution  of  his  prerogative,  and 
drive  the  leaders  of  the  popular  party  to  a  gloomy  inflexibility. 
A  change  of  dynasty  was  not  then  proposed ;  and  England 
languished  of  a  disease  for  which  no  cure  had  been  discovered. 
It  was  evident  that  force  must  decide  the  struggle.  The  par- 
liament demanded  the  control  of  the  national  militia  with 
the  possession  of  the  fortified  towns ;  to  Charles  no  alterna- 
tive remained  but  resistance  or  the  surrender  of  all  power ; 
and,  unfurling  the  royal  standard,  he  began  a  civil  war. 

The  contest  was  between  a  permanent  parliament  and  an 
arbitrary  king.  The  people  had  no  mode  of  intervention  ex- 
cept by  serving  in  the  armies ;  they  could  not  act  as  medi- 
ators or  as  masters.  The  parliament  was  become  a  body, 
of  which  the  duration  depended  on  its  own  will,  unchecked 
by  a  supreme  executive  or  by  an  independent  co-ordinate 
branch  of  legislation ;  and,  therefore,  of  necessity,  a  multi- 
tudinous despot,  unbalanced  and  irresponsible  ;  levying  taxes, 
enlisting  soldiers,  commanding  the  navy  and  the  army,  enact- 
ing laws,  and  changing  at  its  will  the  forms  of  the  Eng- 
lish constitution.  The  issue  was  certain.  Every  representa- 
tive assembly  is  swayed  by  the  public  interests,  the  preten- 
sions of  its  own  body,  and  the  personal  interests  of  its  respec- 
tive members  ;  and  never  was  the  successive  predominance  of 
each  of  these  sets  of  motives  more  clear  than  in  the  Long 
Parliament.  Its  first  acts  were  mainly  for  its  constituents, 
whose  rights  it  vindicated  and  whose  liberties  it  increased ;  its 
corporate  ambition  next  asserted  itself  against  the  throne  and 
the  peerage,  both  of  which  it  was  hurried  forward  to  subvert ; 
individual  selfishness  at  last  prevailed. 

In  1644,  after  one  hundred  and  eighteen  royalist  members, 
obeying  the  summons  of  the  king,  repaired  to  Oxford,  the 
friends  of  royalty  and  of  the  church  of  England  were  unrep- 
resented in  the  national  legislature.  The  commons  at  once 
divided  into  two  imposing  parties^the  Presbyterians  and  the 
Independents;  the  friends  of  a  revolution  which  should  yet 
preserve  a  nobility,  a  limited  monarchy,  and  a  national  church, 
and  the  friends  of  a  revolution  on  the  principle  of  equality. 

The  Presbyterians  represented  a  powerful  branch  of  the 

VOL.  I. — 23 


330    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     part  n. ;  ch.  i. 

aristocracy  of  England ;  they  had  a  majority  in  the  commons ; 
the  exchisive  possession  of  what  remained  of  the  house  of 
lords  ;  the  command  of  the  array ;  and  numerous  and  active 
adherents  among  the  clergy.  The  English  people  favored 
them ;  Scotland  was  devoted  to  them ;  and  they  were  at  all 
times  prepared  to  make  peace  with  the  king,  if  he  would  but 
accept  Presbyterianism  as  the  religion  of  the  state. 

The  Independents  could  hope  for  superior  influence  only 
by  rising  above  the  commons,  the  peers,  the  commanders  of 
the  army,  all  Scotland,  and  the  mass  of  the  English  people. 
They  had  no  omen  of  success  but  the  tendency  of  revolu- 
tions to  go  forward,  the  enthusiasm  of  converts  for  the  newly 
accepted  ideas,  the  incHnation  of  the  human  mind  to  push 
principles  to  their  remoter  consequences.  They  gradually  be- 
came the  advocates  of  religious  liberty  and  the  power  of  the 
people ;  and  the  glorious  vision  of  emancipating  the  commons 
of  England  from  feudal  oppression,  from  intellectual  servi- 
tude, and  from  royalty  itself,  kindled  a  zeal  which  would  not 
be  rebuked  by  the  inconsistency  of  their  schemes  with  the 
opinions,  habits,  and  institutions  of  the  nation. 

The  Presbyterian  nobility  were  unwilling  that  innova- 
tion should  go  so  far  as  to  impair  their  rank  or  diminish  their 
grandeur ;  the  Independents,  as  new  men,  who  had  their  for- 
tunes to  make,  were  ready  not  only  to  subvert  the  throne, 
but  to  contend  for  equality  against  privilege.  "  The  Presby- 
terian earl  of  Manchester,"  said  Cromwell,  "  shall  be  content 
with  being  no  more  than  plain  Montague."  The  men  who 
broke  away  from  the  forms  of  society,  and  venerated  nothing 
but  truth;  others  who,  in  the  folly  of  their  pride,  claimed  for 
their  opinions  the  sanctity  and  the  rights  of  truth ;  they  who 
longed  for  a  more  equal  diffusion  of  social  benefits ;  the  friends 
of  entire  liberty  of  conscience ;  the  friends  of  a  reform  in  the 
law  and  a  diminution  of  the  profits  of  the  lawyers ;  the  men, 
like  Milton  and  Sidney,  whose  imagination  delighted  in  pic- 
tures of  Roman  liberty ;  the  less  educated,  who  indulged  in 
visions  of  a  restoration  of  that  happy  Anglo-Saxon  system 
which  had  been  invented  in  the  woods  in  days  of  Anglo-Saxon 
simplicity ;  the  republicans,  the  levellers,  the  fanatics — all 
ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  new  ideas. 


1644-1648.     THE  RESTORATION   OF  THE  STUARTS.  331 

The  true  representative  of  the  better  principles  of  the 
Independents  was  Henry  Yane ;  their  acknowledged  leader 
was  Oliver  Cromwell.  Was  he  sincere  ?  It  is  difficult  to  dis- 
believe that  he  was  imbued  with  the  principles  of  Puritan  re- 
forms, and  may  have  always  thought  himself  faithful  to  the 
interest  of  England ;  as  in  his  foreign  policy  he  most  certainly 
was.  All  great  men  incline  to  fatalism,  for  their  success  is  a 
mystery  to  themselves ;  and  it  was  not  entirely  with  hypocrisy 
that  Cromwell  professed  himself  the  servant  of  Providence, 
borne  along  by  irresistible  necessity. 

Had  peace  never  been  broken,  the  Independents  would 
have  remained  a  powerless  minority ;  the  civil  war  gave  them 
a  rallying  point  in  the  army.  In  the  season  of  great  public 
excitement,  fanatics  crowded  to  the  camp  ;  an  ardor  for  popu- 
lar liberty  mingled  with  the  fervors  of  religious  excitement. 
Cromwell  had  early  perceived  that  the  pride  and  valor  of  the 
cavaliers  could  never  be  overthrown  by  ordinary  hirelings ; 
he  therefore  sought  to  fill  the  ranks  of  his  army  with  enthu- 
siasts. His  officers  were  alike  ready  to  preach  and  pray,  and 
to  take  the  lead  in  the  field  of  battle.  With  much  hypocrisy, 
his  camp  was  the  scene  of  much  real  piety ;  and  long  after- 
ward, when  his  army  was  disbanded,  its  members,  who  for  the 
most  part  were  farmers  and  yeomen  and  their  sons,  resumed 
their  places  in  the  industrious  classes,  while  the  soldiers  of  the 
royalists  were  often  found  among  vagabonds  and  beggars.  It 
was  the  troops  of  Cromwell  that  first,  in  the  open  field,  broke 
the  ranks  of  the  royal  squadrons ;  and  the  decisive  victory  of 
Marston  Moor  was  won  by  their  iron  energy  and  valor. 

The  final  overthrow  of  the  prospects  of  Charles  in  the 
field,  in  1647,  marks  the  crisis  of  the  struggle  for  the  ascendent 
between  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents.  The  former 
had  their  organ  in  the  parliament,  the  latter  in  the  army,  in 
which  the  Presbyterian  commander  had  been  surprised  into 
a  resignation  by  the  self-denying  ordinance  and  the  intrigues 
of  Cromwell.  As  the  duration  of  the  parliament  depended 
on  its  own  will,  the  army  refused  to  be  disbanded,  claiming 
to  represent  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  actually  constitut- 
ing the  only  balance  to  the  otherwise  unlimited  power  of  the 
parliament.     The  army  could  call  the  parliament  a  usurper, 


332    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  n.;  ch.  t. 

and  the  parliament  conld  arraign  the  army  as  a  branch  of  the 
public  service,  whose  duty  was  obedience,  and  not  counsel. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  parliament  pleaded  its  office  as  the 
grand  council  of  the  nation,  the  army  could  urge  its  merits  as 
the  active  and  successful  antagonist  to  royal  despotism. 

The  Presbyterians  broke  forth  into  menaces  against  the 
army.  "  These  men,"  whispered  Cromwell  to  Ludlow,  "  will 
never  leave  till  the  army  pull  them  out  by  the  ears."  The 
Presbyterian  majority  appeared  to  possess  paramount  power, 
and  did  not  possess  it.  Could  they  gain  the  person  of  the 
king,  and  succeed  in  pacific  negotiations,  their  influence  would 
be  renewed  by  the  natural  love  of  order  in  the  minds  of  the 
English  people.  A  conflict  with  the  Independents  was  una- 
voidable ;  for  the  Independents  could  in  no  event  negotiate 
with  the  king.  In  every  negotiation,  a  free  parliament  must 
have  been  a  condition ;  and  a  free  parliament  would  have  been 
their  doom.  Self-preservation,  uniting  with  ambition  and 
wild  enthusiasm,  urged  them  to  uncompromising  hostility  with 
Charles  I.  He  or  they  must  perish.  "  If  my  head  or  the 
king's  must  fall,"  argued  Cromwell,  "  can  I  hesitate  which  to 
choose  ? "  By  an  act  of  violence  the  Independents  seized  on 
the  king,  and  held  him  in  their  special  custody.  "  Now," 
said  the  exulting  Cromwell,  "  now  that  I  have  the  king  in  my 
hands,  I  have  the  parliament  in  my  pocket." 

At  length  the  Presbyterian  majority,  sustained  by  the 
eloquence  of  Prynne,  attempted  to  dispense  with  the  army, 
and,  by  a  decided  vote,  resolved  to  make  peace  with  the 
king.  To  save  its  party  from  an  entire  defeat,  in  December, 
1648,  the  army  interposed,  and  "  purged  "  the  house  of  com- 
mons. "  Hear  us,"  said  the  excluded  members  to  Colonel 
Pride,  who  expelled  them.  "  I  cannot  spare  the  time,"  replied 
the  soldier.  "  By  what  right  are  we  arrested  ? "  demanded 
they  of  the  extravagant  Hugh  Peter.  "  By  the  right  of  the 
sword,"  answered  the  late  envoy  from  Massachusetts.  "  You 
are  called,"  said  he,  as  he  preached  to  the  decimated  parlia- 
ment, "  to  lead  the  people  out  of  Egyptian  bondage ;  this  army 
must  root  up  monarchy,  not  only  here,  but  in  France  and  other 
kingdoms  round  about."  Cromwell,  the  night  after  "  the  in- 
terruption," reiterated:  "  I  knew  nothing  of  these  late  pro^ 


1648-1649.    THE  RESTOEATION  OF  THE  STUARTS.  333 

ceedings  ;  but,  since  the  work  has  been  done,  I  am  glad  of  it 
and  will  endeavor  to  maintain  it." 

When  the  winnowing  of  the  house  of  commons  was  fin- 
ished, there  remained  few  beside  republicans ;  and  it  was  re- 
solved to  bring  the  unhappy  monarch  to  trial  before  a  special 
commission.  "  Providence  and  necessity,"  said  Cromwell, 
affecting  indecision,  "  have  cast  the  house  upon  this  delibera- 
tion. I  shall  pray  God  to  bless  our  counsels."  The  young 
and  sincere  Algernon  Sidney  opposed,  and  saw  the  danger  of 
a  counter-revolution.  "  No  one  will  stir,"  cried  Cromwell 
impatiently :  "  I  tell  you,  we  will  cut  off  his  head  with  the 
crown  on  it."  Sidney  withdrew  ;  and  Charles  was  abandoned 
to  the  sanguinary  severity  of  a  sect.  To  sign  the  death-warrant 
was  a  solemn  deed,  from  which  some  of  his  judges  were  in- 
clined to  shrink  ;  Cromwell  concealed  the  magnitude  of  the  act 
under  an  air  of  buffoonery ;  the  chamber  rung  with  gayety ; 
he  daubed  the  cheek  of  one  of  the  judges  that  sat  next  him 
with  ink,  andj  amidst  shouts  of  laughter,  compelled  another, 
the  wavering  Ingoldsby,  to  sign  the  paper  as  a  jest.  The  am- 
bassadors of  foreign  princes  presented  no  remonstrance  ;  and, 
when  the  admirable  collections  of  the  unhappy  king  were  sold 
at  auction,  they  purchased  his  favorite  works  of  art  with  rival 
eagerness.  Holland  alone  negotiated.  The  English  people 
were  overawed. 

Treason  against  the  state,  on  the  part  of  its  highest  offi- 
cers, is  the  darkest  of  human  offences.  Fidelity  to  the  con- 
stitution is  due  from  every  citizen  ;  in  a  monarch,  the  debt 
is  enhanced,  for  the  monarch  is  the  hereditary  and  special 
favorite  of  the  fundamental  laws.  The  murderer,  even  where 
his  victim  is  eminent  for  mind  and  character,  destroys  what 
time  will  repair ;  and,  deep  as  is  his  guilt,  society  suffers  but 
transiently  from  the  transgression.  But  the  king  who  con- 
spires against  the  liberties  of  the  people  conspires  to  subvert 
the  most  precious  bequest  of  past  ages,  the  dearest  hope  of 
future  time ;  he  would  destroy  genius  in  its  birth  and  enter- 
prise in  its  sources,  and  sacrifice  the  prolific  causes  of  intelli- 
gence and  virtue  to  his  avarice  or  his  vanity,  his  caprices  or 
his  ambition ;  would  rob  the  nation  of  its  nationality,  the 
individual  of  the  prerogatives  of  man ;  would  deprive  common 


334     BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.;  oh.  z 

life  of  its  sweets,  bj  depriving  it  of  its  security,  and  religion 
of  its  power  to  solace,  by  subjecting  it  to  supervision  and  con- 
trol. His  crime  would  not  only  enslave  a  present  race  of  men, 
but  forge  chains  for  unborn  generations.  There  can  be  no 
fouler  deed. 

Tried  by  the  standard  of  his  own  intentions  and  his  own 
actions,  Charles  I.,  it  may  be,  had  Httle  right  to  complain. 
Yet,  when  history  gives  its  impartial  verdict  on  the  execution, 
it  remembers  that  the  king  was  delivered,  by  a  decimated 
parliament,  which  had  prejudged  his  case,  to  a  commission 
composed  of  his  bitterest  enemies,  and  erected  in  defiance 
of  the  wishes  of  the  people.  His  judges  were  but  a  mili- 
tary tribunal ;  and  the  judgment,  which  assumed  to  be  a  sol- 
emn exercise  of  justice  on  the  worst  of  criminals,  arraigned 
by  a  great  nation  and  tried  by  its  representatives,  was,  in 
truth,  an  act  of  tyranny.  His  accusers  could  have  right- 
fully proceeded  only  as  the  agents  of  the  popular  sover- 
eignty; and  the  people  disclaimed  the  deed.  An  appeal 
to  them  would  have  reversed  the  decision.  The  churchmen, 
the  Presbyterians,  the  lawyers,  the  opulent  landholders,  the 
merchants,  and  the  great  majority  of  the  English  nation,  pre- 
ferred the  continuance  of  a  limited  monarchy.  There  could 
be  no  republic.  Not  sufficient  advancement  had  been  made 
in  political  knowledge.  Milton  believed  himself  a  friend  of 
popular  liberty ;  and  defended  the  revocable  nature  of  all  con- 
ceded civil  power ;  yet  his  scheme  of  government,  which  pro- 
posed to  subject  England  to  the  executive  authority  of  a  self- 
perpetuating  council,  is  ruinous  to  equal  freedom.  Not  one 
of  the  proposed  methods  of  government  was  practicable. 

If  the  execution  of  Charles,  on  the  thirtieth  of  January, 
1649,  be  considered  by  the  rule  of  utility,  its  effects  will  be 
found  to  have  been  entirely  bad.  A  free  parliament  would 
have  saved  the  king,  and  reformed  church  and  state  ;  in  aim^ 
ing  at  the  immediate  enjoyment  of  democratic  liberty,  the 
Independents  of  that  day  delayed  popular  enfranchisements. 
Nations  change  their  institutions  but  slowly :  to  attempt  to 
pass  abruptly  from  feudalism  and  monarchy  to  democratio 
equality  was  the  thought  of  enthusiasts,  who  understood 
neither  the  history,  the  character,  nor  the  condition  of  the 


1649-1652.      THE   RESTORATION   OF   THE   STUARTS.  335 

country.  It  was  like  laying  out  into  new  streets  a  city  already 
crowded  with  massive  structures.  The  death  of  the  king: 
was  the  policy  of  Cromwell,  and  not  the  policy  of  the  nation. 

The  remaining  members  of  the  commons  were  now  by 
their  own  act  constituted  the  sole  legislature  and  sovereign  of 
England.  The  peerage  was  abolished  with  monarchy;  the 
connection  between  state  and  church  rent  asunder ;  but  there 
was  no  republic.  Selfish  ambition  forbade  it;  the  state  of 
society  and  the  distribution  and  tenure  of  property  forbade  it. 
The  commons  usurped  not  only  all  powers  of  ordinary  legisla- 
tion, but  even  the  right  of  remoulding  the  constitution.  They 
were  a  sort  of  collective,  self- constituted,  perpetual  dictator- 
ship. Like  Rome  under  its  decemviri,  England  was  enslaved 
by  its  legislators ;  English  liberty  had  become  the  patrimony 
and  estate  of  the  commons ;  the  forms  of  government,  the 
courts  of  justice,  peace  and  war,  all  executive,  all  legislative 
power,  rested  with  them.  They  were  irresponsible,  absolute, 
and  apparently  never  to  be  dissolved  but  at  their  own  pleasure. 

But  the  commons  were  not  sustained  by  public  opinion. 
They  were  resisted  by  the  royalists  and  the  Catholics,  by 
the  Presbyterians  and  the  fanatics,  by  the  honest  republi- 
cans and  the  army.  In  Ireland,  the  Catholics  dreaded  from 
them  the  worst  cruelties  that  Protestant  bigotry  could  in- 
flict. Scotland,  almost  unanimous  in  its  adhesion  to  Presby- 
terianism,  regarded  with  horror  the  rise  of  democracy  and  the 
triumph  of  the  Independents ;  the  fall  of  the  Stuarts  fore- 
boded the  overthrow  of  its  independence ;  it  loved  liberty,  but 
it  loved  its  nationality.  It  feared  the  sovereignty  of  an  Eng- 
lish parliament,  and  desired  the  restoration  of  monarchy  as  a 
guarantee  against  the  danger  of  being  treated  as  a  conquered 
province.  In  England,  the  opulent  landholders,  who  swayed 
their  ignorant  dependants,  rendered  popular  institutions  im- 
possible ;  and  too  little  intelligence  had  as  yet  been  diffused 
through  the  mass  of  the  people  to  make  them  capable  of  tak- 
ing the  lead  in  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  schemes  of 
social  and  civil  equalit^^  found  no  support  but  in  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  few  who  fostered  them  ;  and  clouds  of  discontent 
gathered  sullenly  over  the  nation. 

The  attempt  at  a  counter-revolution  followed.     But  the 


336     BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  i. 

parties  by  which  it  was  made,  though  they  formed  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  three  nations,  were  filled  with  mutual  antipathies  ; 
the  Catholics  of  Ireland  had  no  faith  in  the  Scottish  Presbyte- 
rians ;  and  these  in  their  turn  were  full  of  distrust  of  the  Eng- 
lish cavaliers.  They  feared  each  other  as  much  as  they  feared 
the  commons.  There  could,  therefore,  be  no  concert  of  opposi- 
tion; the  insurrections,  which,  had  they  been  made  unitedly, 
would  probably  have  been  successful,  were  not  simultaneous. 
The  strength  of  the  Independents  lay  in  a  small  but  well-dis- 
ciplined army  ;  the  celerity  and  military  genius  of  Cromwell 
ensured  to  them  unity  of  counsels  and  promptness  of  action ; 
they  conquered  their  adversaries  in  detail ;  and  the  massacre 
of  Drogheda,  the  field  of  Dunbar,  and  the  victory  of  Wor- 
cester, destroyed  the  present  hopes  of  the  friends  of  monarchy. 

The  lustre  of  Cromwell's  victories  ennobled  the  crimes  of 
his  ambition.  When  the  forces  of  the  insurgents  had  been 
beaten  down,  there  remained  but  two  powers  in  the  state — the 
Long  Parliament  and  the  army.  To  submit  to  a  military  des- 
potism was  inconsistent  with  the  genius  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land; and  yet  the  Long  Parliament,  now  containing  but  a 
fraction  of  its  original  members,  could  not  be  recognised  as 
the  rightful  sovereign  of  the  country,  and  possessed  only  the 
shadow  of  executive  power.  PubKc  confidence  rested  on 
Cromwell  alone.  The  few  true  republicans  had  no  party  in 
the  nation ;  a  dissolution  of  the  parliament  would  have  led  to 
anarchy ;  a  reconciliation  with  Charles  IL,  whose  father  had 
just  been  executed,  was  impossible;  a  standing  army,  it  was 
argued,  required  to  be  balanced  by  a  standing  parliament; 
and  the  house  of  commons,  the  mother  of  the  commonwealth, 
insisted  on  nursing  the  institutions  which  it  had  established. 
But  the  public  mind  reasoned  differently ;  the  virtual  power 
rested  with  the  army ;  men  dreaded  confusion,  and  yearned 
for  peace ;  and  they  were  pleased  with  the  retributive  justice 
that  the  parliament,  which  had  destroyed  the  English  king, 
should  itself  be  subverted  by  one  of  its  members. 

Thus  the  effort  at  absolute  monarchy  on  the  part  of 
Charles  I.  yielded  to  a  constitutional,  true  English  parliament ; 
the  control  of  parliament  passed  from  the  constitutional  royal- 
ists to  the  Presbyterians,  or  representatives  of  a  part  of  the 


1653.  THE   RESTORATION"  OF  THE   STUARTS.  337 

aristocracy  opposed  to  Episcopacy ;  from  the  Presbyterians  to 
the  Independents,  the  enthusiasts  for  popular  liberty;  and, 
when  the  course  of  the  revolution  had  outstripped  public 
opinion,  a  powerful  reaction  gave  the  supreme  authority  to 
Cromwell.  Sovereignty  had  escaped  from  the  king  to  the 
parliament,  from  the  parliament  to  the  commons,  from  the 
commons  to  the  army,  and  from  the  army  to  its  successful 
commander.  Each  revolution  was  a  natural  and  necessary 
consequence  of  its  predecessor. 

Cromwell  was  one  whom  even  his  enemies  cannot  name 
without  acknowledging  his  greatness.  The  farmer  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, accustomed  only  to  rural  occupations,  unnoticed  till 
he  was  more  than  forty  years  old,  engaged  in  no  higher  plots 
than  how  to  improve  the  returns  of  his  land  and  fill  his  or- 
chard with  choice  fruit,  of  a  sudden  became  the  best  officer  in 
the  British  army,  and  the  greatest  statesman  of  his  time  ;  over- 
turned the  English  constitution,  which  had  been  the  work  of 
centuries  ;  held  in  his  own  grasp  the  liberties  which  formed  a 
part  of  the  nature  of  the  English  people,  and  cast  the  king- 
doms into  a  new  mould.  Religious  peace,  such  as  England  till 
now  has  never  again  seen,  flourished  under  his  calm  mediation ; 
justice  found  its  way  even  among  the  remotest  Highlands  of 
Scotland  ;  commerce  filled  the  English  marts  with  prosperous 
activity ;  his  fleets  rode  triumphant  in  the  West  Indies  ;  Nova 
Scotia  submitted  to  his  orders  without  a  struggle  ;  the  Dutch 
begged  of  him  for  peace  as  for  a  boon  ;  Louis  XIY.  was  hu- 
miliated ;  the  Protestants  of  Piedmont  breathed  their  prayers 
in  security.  His  squadron  made  sure  of  Jamaica ;  he  had 
strong  thoughts  of  Hispaniola  and  Cuba  ;  and,  to  use  his  own 
words,  resolved  "  to  strive  with  the  Spaniard  for  the  mastery 
of  all  those  seas."  The  glory  of  the  English  was  spread 
throughout  the  world  :  "  Under  the  tropic  was  their  language 
spoke." 

And  yet  his  career  was  but  an  attempt  to  conciliate  a  union 
between  his  power  and  permanent  public  order ;  and  the  at- 
tempt was  always  unavailing,  from  the  inherent  impossibility 
growing  out  of  the  origin  of  his  power.  It  was  derived  from 
the  submission,  not  from  the  will,  of  the  people  ;  it  came  by 
the  sword,  not  from  the  nation,  nor  from  national  usages. 


338     BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     past  ii.  ;  ch.  i. 

Cromwell  saw  the  impracticability  of  a  republic,  and  offered 
no  excuse  for  bis  usurpations  but  the  right  of  the  strongest  to 
restore  tranquillity — the  plea  of  tyrants  and  oppressors  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world.     He  had  made  use  of  the  enthu- 
siasm of  liberty  for  his  advancement;  he  sought  to  sustain 
himself  by  conciliating  the  most  opposite  sects.     For  the  re- 
publicans, he  had  apologies :  "  The  sons  of  Zeruiah,  the  law- 
yers, and  the  men  of  wealth,  are  too  strong  for  us.     If  we  . 
speak  of  reform,  they  cry  out  that  we  design  to  destroy  all 
property."    To  the  witness  of  the  young  Quaker  against  priest- 
craft and  war,  he  replied :  ^'  It  is  very  good ;  it  is  truth ;  if 
THOU  and  I  were  but  an  hour  of  a  day  together,  we  should  be 
nearer  one  to  the  other."     From  the  field  of  Dunbar  he  had 
charged  the  Long  Parliament  "  to  reform  abuses,  and  not  to 
multiply  poor  men  for  the  benefit  of  the  rich."     Presently  he 
appealed  to  the  moneyed  men  and  the  lawyers  :  "  he  alone 
could  save  them  from  the  levellers,  men  more  ready  to  destroy 
than  to  reform."     Did  the  sincere  levellers,  the  true  common- 
wealth's men,  make  their  way  into  his  presence,  he  assured 
them  "  he  preferred  a  shepherd's  crook  to  the  office  of  pro- 
tector ;  he  would  resign  all  power  so  soon  as  God  should  reveal 
his  definite  will ; "  and  then  he  would  invite  them  to  pray* 
"  For,"  said  he  one  day  to  the  poet  Waller,  "  I  must  talk  to 
these  people  in  their  own  style."    Did  the  passion  for  political 
equality  blaze  up  in  the  breasts  of  the  yeomanry,  who  consti- 
tuted his  bravest  troops,  it  was  checked  by  the  terrors  of  a 
military  execution.     The  Scotch  Presbyterians  could  not  be 
cajoled :  he  resolved  to  bow  their  pride ;  and  did  it  in  the  only 
way  in  which  it  could  be  done,  by  wielding  against  their  big- 
otry the  great  conception  of  the  age,  the  doctrine  of  Roger 
Williams  and  Descartes,  freedom  of  conscience.     "  Approba- 
tion," said  he,  as  I  believe,  with  sincerity  of  conviction,  "  is 
an  act  of  conveniency,  not  of  necessity.      Does  a  man  speak 
foolishly,  suffer  him  gladly,  for  ye  are  wise.     Does  he  speak 
erroneously,  stop  such  a  man's  mouth  with  sound  words,  that 
cannot  be  gainsaid.    Does  he  speak  truly,  rejoice  in  the  truth." 
To  win  the  royalists,  he  obtained  an  act  of  amnesty,  a  pledge 
of  future  favor  to  such  of  them  as  would  submit.     He  courted 
-the  nation  by  exciting  and  gratifying  national  pride,  by  able 


1653-1654.      THE  RESTORATION   OF   THE   STUARTS.  339 

negotiations,  bj  victory  and  conquest.  He  sought  to  enlist  in 
his  favor  the  religious  sympathies  of  the  people,  by  assuming 
for  England  a  guardianship  over  the  interests  of  Protestant 
Christendom. 

Seldom  was  there  a  less  scrupulous  or  more  gifted  politi- 
cian than  Cromwell.  But  he  w^as  no  longer  a  leader  of  a 
party.  He  had  no  party.  A  party  cannot  exist  except  by 
the  force  of  common  principles ;  it  is  truth,  and  truth  only, 
that  of  itself  rallies  men  together.  Cromwell,  the  oppressor 
of  the  Independents,  had  ceased  to  respect  principles;  his 
object  was  the  advancement  of  his  family ;  his  hold  on 
opinion  went  no  farther  than  the  dread  of  anarchy,  and  the 
strons:  desire  for  order.  If  moderate  and  disinterested  men 
consented  to  his  power,  it  was  to  his  power  as  high  constable, 
engaged  to  preserve  the  public  peace.  He  could  not  confer 
on  his  country  a  fixed  form  of  government,  for  that  required 
a  concert  with  the  national  affections,  which  he  was  never 
able  to  gain.  He  had  clear  notions  of  public  liberty,  and  he 
understood  how  much  the  English  people  are  disposed  to 
honor  their  representatives.  Thrice  did  he  attempt  to  con- 
nect his  usurpation  with  tlie  forms  of  representative  govern- 
ment, and  always  without  success.  His  first  parliament,  con- 
vened in  1653,  by  special  writ,  and  mainly  composed  of  the 
members  of  the  party  by  which  he  had  been  advanced,  repre- 
sented the  movement  in  the  English  mind  which  had  been 
the  cause  of  the  revolution.  It  indulged  in  pious  ecstasies, 
laid  claim  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  spent  whole  days  in  exhortations  and  prayers.  But  the 
delirium  of  mysticism  was  not  incompatible  with  clear  notions 
of  policy;  and,  amid  the  hyperboles  of  Oriental  diction,  they 
prepared  to  overthrow  despotic  power  by  using  the  power  a 
despo':  had  conceded.  The  objects  of  this  assemby  were  all 
democratic :  it  labored  to  effect  a  most  radical  reform  ;  to 
codify  English  law,  by  reducing  the  huge  volumes  of  the 
common  law  into  a  few  simple  English  axioms ;  to  abolish 
tithes ;  and  to  establish  an  absolute  religious  freedom,  such 
as  the  United  States  now  enjoy.  This  parliament  has  for 
ages  been  the  theme  of  unsparing  ridicule.  Historians,  with 
little  generosity  toward  a  defeated  party,  have  sided  against 


340     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  i. 

the  levellers ;  and  the  misfortune  of  failure  in  action  has 
doomed  them  to  censure  and  contempt.  Yet  they  only 
demanded  what  had  often  been  promised,  and  what,  on  the 
immutable  principles  of  freedom,  was  right.  They  did  but 
remember  the  truths  which  Cromwell  had  professed,  and  had 
forgotten.  Fearing  their  influence,  and  finding  the  republi- 
cans too  honest  to  become  the  dupes  of  his  ambition,  he  in- 
duced such  members  of  the  house  of  commons  as  were  his 
creatures  to  resign,  and  scattered  the  rest  with  his  troops. 
The  public  looked  on  with  much  indifference,  for  the  parlia- 
ment, from  the  mode  of  its  convocation,  was  unpopular ;  the 
royalists,  the  army,  and  the  Presbyterians,  alike  dreaded  its 
activity.  With  it  expired  the  last  feeble  hope  of  a  common- 
w^ealth.  The  successful  soldier,  at  once  and  openly,  pleading 
the  necessity  of  the  moment,  assumed  supreme  power,  as  the 
highest  peace-officer  in  the  realm. 

Cromwell  next  attempted  an  alliance  with  the  property  of 
the  country.  Affecting  contempt  for  the  regicide  republicans, 
who,  as  his  accomplices,  could  not  forego  his  protection,  he 
prepared  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  law^yers,  the  clergy,  and 
the  moneyed  interest.  Here,  too,  he  was  equally  unsuccess- 
ful. The  moneyed  interest  loves  to  exercise  dominion,  but 
submits  to  it  reluctantly ;  and  his  second  parliament,  chosen, 
in  1654,  on  such  principles  of  reform  as  rejected  the  rotten 
boroughs,  and,  limiting  the  elective  franchise  to  men  of  con- 
siderable estate,  made  the  house  a  representation  of  the  wealth 
of  the  country,  was  equally  animated  by  a  spirit  of  stubborn 
defiance.  It  first  resisted  the  decisions  of  the  council  of 
Cromwell  on  the  validity  of  its  elections,  next  vindicated 
freedom  of  debate,  and,  at  its  third  sitting,  called  in  question 
the  basis  of  Cromwell's  authority.  "Have  w^e  cut  down 
tyranny  in  one  person,  and  shall  the  nation  be  shackled  by 
another  ? "  cried  a  republican.  '*  Hast  thou,  like  Ahab,  killed 
and  taken  possession  ? "  exclaimed  a  royalist.  At  the  opening 
of  this  assembly,  Cromwell,  hoping  for  a  majority,  declared 
"  the  meeting  more  precious  to  him  than  life."  The  majority 
favored  the  Presbyterians,  and  secretly  desired  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts.  The  protector  dissolved  them,  saying :  "  The 
mighty  things  done  among  us  are  the  revolutions  of  Christ 


1654-1659.    THE   RESTORATIOISr   OF   THE  STUARTS.  341 

himself ;  to  deny  this  is  to  speak  against  God."  How  highly 
the  public  mind  was  excited  by  this  abrupt  act  of  tyranny  is 
evident  from  what  ensued.  The  dissolution  of  the  parliament 
was  followed  by  Penruddoc's  insurrection. 

A  third  and  final  effort  could  not  be  adventured  till  the 
nation  had  been  propitiated  by  naval  successes,  and  victories 
over  Spain  had  excited  and  gratified  the  pride  of  Englishmen 
and  the  zeal  of  Protestants.  "  The  Red  Cross,"  said  Crom- 
well's admirers,  "  rides  on  the  sea  without  a  rival ;  our  ready 
sails  have  made  a  covenant  with  every  wind  ;  our  oaks  are  as 
secure  on  the  billows  as  when  they  were  rooted  in  the  forest : 
to  others  the  ocean  is  but  a  road  ;  to  the  English  it  is  a  dwell- 
ing-place." The  fleets  of  the  protector  returned  rich  with  the 
spoils  of  Peru ;  and  there  were  those  who  joined  in  adulation : 
His  conquering  head  has  no  more  room  for  bays : 
Let  the  rich  ore  forthwith  be  melted  down, 
And  the  state  fixed  by  making  him  a  crown  ; 
"With  ermine  clad  and  purple,  let  him  hold 
A  royal  sceptre,  made  of  Spanish  gold. 
The  question  of  a  sovereign  for  England  seemed  but  to  relate 
to  the  Protector  Cromwell  and  the  army,  or  King  Cromwell 
and  the  army ;  and,  for  the  last  time,  Cromwell  hoped,  through 
a  parliament,  to  reconcile  his  dominion  to  the  English  people, 
and  to  take  a  place  in  the  line  of  English  kings.  For  a  sea- 
son, the  majority  was  not  unwilling ;  the  scruples  of  the  more 
honest  among  the  timid  he  overcame  by  levity.  Our  oath,  he 
would  say,  is  not  against  the  three  letters  that  make  the  word 
REX.  "  Royalty  is  but  a  feather  in  a  man's  cap ;  let  children 
enjoy  their  rattle."  But  here  his  ambition  was  destined  to  a 
disappointment ;  the  Presbyterians,  ever  his  opponents,  found 
on  this  point  allies  in  many  officers  of  the  army;  and  Owen, 
afterward  elected  president  of  Harvard  College,  drafted  for 
them  an  effectual  remonstrance.  In  view  of  his  own  eleva- 
tion, Cromwell  had  established  an  upper  house,  its  future 
members  to  be  nominated  by  the  protector,  in  concurrence 
with  the  peers.  But  the  wealth  of  the  ancient  hereditary  no- 
bility continued  ;  its  splendor  was  not  yet  forgotten  ;  the  new 
peerage,  exposed  to  the  contrast,  excited  ridicule  without  im- 
parting strength ;  the  house  of  commons  continually  spurned 


342     BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  n.;  oh.  i. 

at  their  power,  and  controverted  their  title.  This  parliament, 
of  1658,  was  dissolved.  Unless  Cromwell  could  exterminate 
the  Catholics,  convert  the  inflexible  Presbyterians,  chill  the 
loyalty  of  the  royalists,  and  corrupt  the  judgment  of  the  re- 
publicans, he  nev^er  could  hope  the  cheerful  consent  of  the 
British  nation  to  the  permanence  of  his  government,  which 
was  well  understood  to  be  coextensive  only  with  his  life.  He 
did  not  connect  himself  with  the  revolution,  for  he  put  himself 
above  it,  and  controlled  it;  nor  with  the  monarchy,  for  he  was 
an  active  promoter  of  the  execution  of  Charles ;  nor  with  the 
church,  for  he  overpowered  it ;  nor  with  the  Presbyterians, 
for  he  barely  tolerated  their  worship  without  gratifying  their 
ambition.  He  rested  on  himself ;  his  own  genius  and  his 
own  personal  resources  were  the  basis  of  his  power.  Having 
subdued  the  revolution,  there  was  no  firm  obstacle  but  himself 
to  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  of  which  his  death  was  neces- 
sarily the  signal. 

The  accession  of  Richard  Cromwell,  in  September,  1658, 
met  with  no  instant  opposition.  Like  his  father,  he  had  no 
party  in  the  nation ;  unlike  his  father,  he  had  no  capacity  for 
public  affairs.  He  met  a  parliament  in  January,  1659,  but 
only  to  dissolve  it;  he  could  not  control  the  army,  and  he 
could  not  govern  England  without  the  army.  Involved  in 
perplexities,  he  resigned.  His  accession  had  changed  noth- 
ing; his  abdication  changed  nothing  ;  content  to  be  the  scoff 
of  the  proud,  he  acted  upon  the  consciousness  of  his  own  in- 
competency, and,  in  the  bosom  of  private  life,  remote  from 
wars,  from  ambition,  from  power,  he  lived  to  extreme  old  age 
in  the  serene  enjoyment  of  a  gentle  and  modest  temper. 
English  politics  went  forward  in  their  course. 

The  council  of  officers,  the  revival  of  the  "  interrupted  " 
Long  Parliament,  the  intrigues  of  Fleetwood  and  Desborough, 
the  transient  elevation  of  Lambert,  were  but  a  series  of  unsuc- 
cessful attempts  to  defeat  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Every 
new  effort  w^as  soon  a  failure ;  and  each  successive  failure  did 
but  expose  the  enemies  of  royalty  to  increased  indignation 
and  contempt.  In  vain  did  Milton  forebode  that,  "of  all 
governments,  that  of  a  restored  king  is  the  worst ; "  nothing 
could  long  delay  the  restoration.     The  fanaticism  which  had 


1659-1660.     THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE   STUARTS.  343 

made  tlie  revolution  had  burnt  out,  and  was  now  a  spent 
volcano. 

Monk  was  at  that  time  the  commander  of  the  Eno^lish 
army  in  Scotland.  Sir  William  Coventry,  no  mean  judge  of 
men,  esteemed  him  a  drudge  ;  Lord  Sandwich  sneered  at  him 
plainly  as  a  thick-skulled  fool ;  and  the  more  courteous  Pepys 
paints  him  as  "  a  heavy,  dull  man,  who  will  not  hinder  busi- 
ness and  cannot  aid  it."  When  Monk  marched  his  army  from 
Scotland  into  England,  he  was  only  the  instrument  of  the  res- 
toration, not  its  author.  Originally  a  soldier  of  fortune  in 
the  army  of  the  royalists,  he  deserted  his  party,  served  against 
Charles  I.,  and  readily  offered  to  Cromwell  his  support.  In- 
capable of  laying  among  the  wrecks  of  the  English  constitu- 
tion the  foundations  of  a  new  creation  of  civil  liberty,  he  now 
took  advantage  of  circumstances  to  gratify  his  own  passion 
for  rank  and  fortune.  He  cared  nothing  for  England,  and 
therefore  made  terms  only  for  himself.  He  held  the  Presby- 
terians in  check,  and,  prodigal  of  perjuries  to  the  last,  he  pre- 
vented the  adoption  of  any  treaty  or  binding  compact  between 
the  returning  monarch  and  the  people. 

Yet  the  want  of  such  a  compact  could  not  restrain  the 
determined  desire  of  the  people  of  England.  All  classes 
demanded  the  restoration  of  monarchy,  as  the  only  effectual 
guarantee  of  peace.  The  Presbyterians,  hoping  to  gain  favor 
by  an  early  and  effectual  union  with  the  royalists,  contented 
themselves  with  a  vague  belief  that  the  martyrdoms  of  Dun- 
bar would  never  be  forgotten  ;  misfortunes  and  the  fate  of 
Charles  I.  were  taken  as  sureties  that  Charles  11.  had  learned 
moderation  in  the  school  of  exile  ;  and  his  return  could  have 
nothing  humiliating,  for  it  was  the  nation  itself  that  re- 
called its  sovereign.  Every  party  that  had  opposed  the 
dynasty  of  the  Stuarts  had  failed  in  the  attempt  to  give  Eng- 
land a  government ;  the  constitutional  royalists,  the  Pres- 
byterians, the  Independents,  the  Long  Parliament,  the  army, 
had  all  in  their  turn  been  unsuccessful ;  the  English,  preserv- 
ing a  latent  zeal  for  their  ancient  liberties,  were  at  the  time 
carried  away  with  a  passionate  enthusiasm  for  their  hered- 
itary king.  The  Long  Parliament  is  reassembled  ;  the  Pres- 
byterians, expelled  before  the  trial  of  Charles,  resume  their 


344     BRITISH  AMEEICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  i. 

seats ;  and  the  parliament  is  dissolved,  to  be  succeeded  by  a 
new  assembly.  The  king's  return  is  at  hand.  They  who 
had  been  its  tardiest  advocates  endeavor  to  throw  oblivion  on 
their  hesitancy  by  the  excess  of  loyalty ;  men  vie  with  one  an- 
other in  eagerness  for  the  restoration ;  no  one  of  them  is  dis- 
posed to  gain  the  certain  ill-will  of  the  monarch  by  proposing 
conditions  which  might  not  be  seconded ;  they  forget  their 
country  in  their  zeal  for  the  king ;  they  forget  liberty  in  their 
eagerness  to  advance  their  fortunes ;  a  vague  proclamation  on 
the  part  of  Charles  II.,  promising  a  general  amnesty,  fidelity 
to  the  Protestant  religion,  regard  for  tender  consciences,  and 
respect  for  the  English  laws,  was  the  only  pledge  from  the 
sovereign.  And  now  that  peace  dawns,  after  twenty  years  of 
storms,  all  England  was  in  ecstasy.  Groups  of  men  gathered 
round  buckets  of  wine  in  the  streets,  and  drank  the  king's 
health  on  their  knees.  The  bells  in  every  steeple  rung  merry 
peals ;  the  bonfires  round  London  were  so  numerous  and  brill- 
iant that  the  city  seemed  encircled  with  a  halo ;  and  under  a 
clear  sky,  with  a  favoring  wind,  the  path  of  the  exiled  mon- 
arch homeward  to  the  kingdom  of  his  fathers  was  serene. 
As  he  landed  on  the  soil  of  England,  he  was  received  by  in- 
finite crowds  with  all  imaginable  love.  The  shouting  and 
general  joy  were  past  imagination.  On  the  journey  from 
Dover  to  London,  the  hillocks  all  the  way  were  covered  with 
people ;  the  trees  were  filled  ;  and  such  was  the  prodigality  of 
fiowers  from  maidens,  such  the  acclamations  from  throngs  of 
men,  the  whole  kingdom  seemed  gathered  along  the  roadsides. 
The  companies  of  the  city  welcomed  the  king  with  loud 
thanks  to  God  for  his  presence. 

The  tall  and  swarthy  grandson  of  Henry  lY.  of  France 
was  of  a  disposition  which,  had  he  preserved  purity  of  morals, 
would  have  made  him  one  of  the  most  amiable  of  men.  It 
was  his  misfortune,  in  very  early  life,  to  have  become  thor- 
oughly debauched  in  mind  and  heart ;  and  adversity,  the  rug- 
ged nurse  of  virtue,  made  the  selfish  libertine  more  reckless. 
Attached  to  the  faith  of  his  mother,  he  had  no  purpose  so 
seriously  at  heart  as  the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  worship  in 
Eno-land  ;  but  even  this  intention  could  not  raise  him  above  his 
natural  languor.   Did  the  English  commons  impeach  Clarendon, 


1660.  THE  KESTORATION  OF  THE   STUARTS.  345 

Charles  II.  could  think  of  nothing  but  how  to  get  the  duchess 
of  Richmond  to  court  again.  Was  the  Dutch  war  signalized 
by  disasters,  "  the  king  did  still  follow  his  women  as  much  as 
ever,"  and  took  more  pains  to  reconcile  the  rival  beauties  of 
his  court  than  to  save  his  kingdom.  He  was  incapable  of 
steady  application,  read  imperfectly,  and,  when  drunk,  was  a 
good-natured,  subservient  fool.  In  the  council  of  state,  he 
played  with  his  dog,  never  minding  the  business,  or  making  a 
speech  memorable  only  for  its  silliness ;  and,  if  he  visited  the 
naval  magazines,  "  his  talk  was  equally  idle  and  frothy." 

His  bounty  was  that  of  facility,  and  left  him  to  be  '^  gov- 
erned by  the  women  and  the  rogues  about  him ; "  and  his 
placable  temper,  incapable  of  strong  revenge,  was  equally  in- 
capable of  affection.  He  so  loved  present  tranquillity  that  he 
signed  the  death-warrants  of  innocent  men  rather  than  risk 
disquiet,  though  of  himself  he  was  reluctant  to  hang  any  but 
republicans.  "  For  God's  sake,  send  for  a  Catholic  priest," 
said  he,  on  the  last  morning  of  his  life,  in  the  desire  for  abso- 
lution ;  but  checked  himself,  lest  he  should  expose  the  duke 
of  York  to  danger.  He  pardoned  all  his  enemies,  no  doubt 
sincerely.  The  queen  sent  to  beg  forgiveness  for  any  offences. 
"  Alas,  poor  woman,  she  beg  my  pardon  !  "  he  replied  :  "  I  beg 
hers  with  all  my  heart ;  take  back  to  her  that  answer." 

On  the  favor  of  this  dissolute  king  of  England  depended 
the  liberties  of  I^ew  England,  where  dissoluteness  was  held  a 
crime  and  adultery  punished  by  death  on  the  gallows. 


VOL.  I. — 24 


346     BRITISH    AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  ii. 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE  NAVIGATION   ACTS. 

The  republican  revolution  in  England  set  in  motion  the 
ideas  of  popular  liberty  which  the  experience  of  happier  ages 
was  to  devise  ways  of  introducing  into  the  political  life  of  the 
nation.  The  swift  and  immoderate  loyalty  of  the  moment 
doomed  the  country  to  the  necessity  of  a  new  revolution. 

All  the  regicides  that  were  caught  would  have  perished 
but  for  Charles  IL,  whom  good  nature  led  at  last  to  exclaim : 
"I  am  tired  of  hanging,  except  for  new  offences."  Haste 
was,  however,  made  to  despatch  at  least  half  a  score,  as  if 
to  appease  the  shade  of  Charles  I. ;  and  among  the  selected 
victims  was  ^  Hugh  Peter,  once  the  minister  of  Salem,  the 
father-in-law  of  the  younger  Winthrop;  one  whom  Roger 
Williams  honored  and  loved,  and  whom  Milton  is  supposed 
to  include  among 

Men  whose  life,  learning,  faith,  and  pure  intent 
Would  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  with  Paul. 
As  a  preacher,  his  homely  energy  resembled  the  directness  of 
the  earlier  divines ;  in  Salem  he  won  general  affection ;  he 
perseveringly  strove  to  advance  the  interests  and  the  industry 
of  Kew  England,  and  assisted  in  founding  its  earliest  college. 
Monarchy  and  episcopacy  he  had  repelled  with  fanatical  pas- 
sion, but  was  not  a  regicide.  He  could  thank  God  for  the 
massacres  of  Cromwell  in  Ireland  ;  yet  was  benevolent,  and 
would  plead  for  the  rights  of  the  feeble  and  the  poor.  ''  Many 
godly  in  New  England  dared  not  condenm  what  he  had  done." 
In  October,  1660,  on  his  trial,  he  was  allowed  no  counsel ;  and 
even  false  witnesses  did  not  substantiate  the  specific  charges 
urged  against  him.   "  Go  home  to  New  England,  and  trust  God 


1660-1662.  THE  RESTORED  DYNASTY.  347 

there,"  were  his  last  words  to  his  daughter.  To  his  friends  he 
said :  "  Weep  not  for  me  ;  mj  heart  is  full  of  comfort ; "  and 
he  smiled  as  he  made  himself  ready  to  leave  the  world. 

But  it  was  not  enough  to  punish  the  living ;  vengeance 
invaded  the  tombs.  The  corpses  of  Cromwell,  Bradshaw,  and 
Ireton  were,  by  the  order  of  both  houses  of  parliament,  and 
with  the  approbation  of  the  king,  disinterred,  dragged  on  hur- 
dles to  Tyburn,  and  hanged  at  the  three  comers  of  the  gal- 
lows. In  the  evening,  they  were  cut  down  and  beheaded, 
amidst  the  merriment  of  the  cavaliers. 

Of  the  judges  of  King  Charles  I.,  three  escaped  to  Amer- 
ica. Edward  Whalley,  who  won  laurels  in  the  field  of  ISTaseby, 
always  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Cromwell  and  remained  a 
friend  to  the  Independents,  and  William  Goff,  a  firm  friend 
to  the  family  of  Cromwell,  a  good  soldier,  but  ignorant  of  the 
true  principles  of  freedom,  escaped  to  Boston.  For  nearly  a 
year  they  resided  unmolested  within  the  limits  of  Massachu- 
setts, publicly  preached  and  prayed,  and  gained  universal  ap- 
plause. When,  in  1661,  warrants  arrived  from  England  for 
their  apprehension,  they  fled  to  I^ew  Haven,  where  it  was 
esteemed  a  crime  against  God  to  bewray  the  wanderer  or  give 
up  the  outcast.  They  removed  in  secrecy  from  house  to 
house ;  sometimes  concealed  themselves  in  a  mill,  sometimes 
in  clefts  of  the  rocks  by  the  sea-side  ;  and  for  weeks  together 
they  dwelt  in  a  cave  in  the  forest.  Great  rewards  were 
offered  for  their  apprehension ;  Indians  as  well  as  English 
were  urged  to  scour  the  woods  in  quest  of  their  hiding-place, 
as  men  hunt  for  the  holes  of  foxes.  When  the  search  was 
nearly  over,  they  retired  to  a  village  on  the  sound ;  till  at  last 
they  took  refuge  in  Hadley,  and  the  most  beautiful  valley  of 
New  England  gave  shelter  to  their  wearisome  age. 

John  Dixwell,  changing  his  name,  was  absorbed  among 
the  inhabitants  of  New  Haven,  married,  and  livedi' -^^v^acef ully 
and  happily.  The  history  of  the  world,  which  Kalelgh  had 
written  in  imprisonment,  with  the  sentence  of  death  hai'lging 
over  his  head,  was  his  favorite  study ;  and  he  ever  retain  '^ 
the  belief  that  the  spirit  of  English  liberty  would  demand 
the  new  revolution,  which  was  achieved  in  England  a  few 
months  before  his  death. 


348     BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  oh.  n. 

Three  of  the  regicides,  who  had  escaped  to  the  Nether- 
lands, found  themselves,  in  the  territory  of  a  free  republic, 
less  secure  than  their  colleagues  in  a  dependent  colony.  In 
1662,  they  were  surrendered,  and  executed  in  England. 

Sir  Henry  Yane,  the  former  governor  of  Massachusetts,  the 
benefactor  of  Ehode  Island,  the  ever  faithful  friend  of  IS'ew 
England,  adhered  with  undaunted  firmness  to  "  the  glorious 
cause "  of  popular  liberty ;  and,  shunned  by  every  man  who 
courted  the  returning  monarch,  he  became  noted  for  the 
most  "catholic"  unpopularity.  He  fell  from  the  affections 
of  the  English  people,  when  the  English  people  fell  from 
the  jealous  care  of  their  liberties.  He  had  always  been  incor- 
rupt and  disinterested,  merciful  and  liberal.  When  IJni- 
tarianism  was  persecuted,  not  as  a  sect,  but  as  a  blasphemy, 
Yane  interceded  for  its  advocate ;  he  pleaded  for  the  release 
of  Quakers  imprisoned  for  their  opinions ;  as  a  legislator,  he 
demanded  justice  in  behalf  of  the  Eoman  Catholics ;  he  re- 
sisted the  sale  of  Penruddoc's  men  into  slavery,  as  an  aggres- 
sion on  the  rights  of  man.  The  immense  emoluments  of  his 
office  as  treasurer  of  the  navy  he  voluntarily  resigned.  When 
the  Presbyterians,  though  his  adversaries,  were  forcibly  ex- 
cluded from  the  house  of  commons,  he  absented  himself. 
After  the  monarchy  was  overthrown  and  a  commonwealth 
attempted,  Yane  reluctantly  filled  a  seat  in  the  council ;  and, 
amid  the  floating  wrecks  of  the  English  constitution,  he 
clung  to  the  existing  parliament  as  to  the  only  fragment  on 
which  it  was  possible  to  rescue  English  liberty.  His  energy 
gave  to  the  English  navy  an  efficient  organization,  so  that 
England  could  cope  with  Holland  on  the  sea ;  and  he  desired 
such  a  reform  of  parliament  as  would  make  it  a  true  repre- 
sentative of  the  people.  He  steadily  resisted  the  usurpation 
of  Cromwell,  and  for  this  was  confined  to  Carisbrook  Castle. 
CromwelX  and  Yane  were  equally  unsuccessful ;  the  first  failed 
to  se^re  the  government  of  England  to  his  family ;  the  other, 
to  vkidicate  it  for  the  people. 
^  jThe  convention  parliament  had  excepted  Yane  from  the 
'^indemnity,  on  the  king's  promise  that  he  should  not  suffer 
death.  It  was  now  resolved  to  bring  him  to  trial;  and,  in 
Jane,  1662,  he  turned   his  trial  into  a  triumph.      Though 


1662.  THE  KESTORED  DYNASTY.  849 

"supposed  to  be  a  timorous  man,"  he  appeared  before  his 
judges  with  animated  fearlessness  ;  he  denied  the  imputation 
of  treason  with  scorn,  defended  the  right  of  Englishmen  to 
be  governed  by  successive  representatives,  and  took  glory  to 
himself  for  actions  which  promoted  the  good  of  his  country, 
and  were  sanctioned  by  parliament  as  the  virtual  sovereign  of 
the  realm.  He  spoke  not  for  his  life  and  estate,  but  for  the 
honor  of  the  martyrs  to  liberty  that  were  in  their  graves,  for 
the  hberties  of  England,  for  the  interests  "of 'all  posterity." 
He  asked  for  counsel.  "Who,"  cried  the  solicitor,  "will 
dare  to  speak  for  you,  unless  you  can  call  down  from  the 
gibbet  the  heads  of  your  fellow-traitors?"  "Alone,  I  am 
not  afraid,"  answered  Yane,  "  to  seal  my  witness  to  the  glori- 
ous cause  with  my  blood."  "  Certainly,"  wrote  the  king,  "  Sir 
Henry  Yane  is  too  dangerous  a  man  to  let  live,  if  we  can  hon- 
estly put  him  out  of  the  way."  He  could  not  honestly  be  put 
out  of  the  way ;  but  still,  the  solicitor  urged,  "  he  must  be 
made  a  sacrifice." 

The  day  before  his  execution,  his  friends  were  admitted 
to  his  prison ;  and  he  reasoned  with  them  calmly  on  death 
and  immortality.  Of  his  political  career  he  could  say:  "I 
have  not  the  least  recoil  in  my  heart  as  to  matter  or  manner 
of  what  I  have  done."  A  friend  prayed  that  the  cup  of 
death  might  be  averted.  "  Why  should  we  fear  death  ?  "  an- 
swered Yane ;  "  I  find  it  rather  shrinks  from  me  than  I  from 
it."  He  stooped  to  embrace  his  children,  mingling  consola- 
tion with  kisses ;  and  his  farewell  counsel  to  them  was :  "  Suf- 
fer anything  from  men  rather  than  sin  against  God."  As  to 
his  resistance  to  arbitrary  rule,  "  I  leave  my  life,"  he  said, 
"as  a  seal  to  the  justness  of  that  quarrel.  Ten  thousand 
deaths,  rather  than  defile  the  chastity  of  my  conscience ;  nor 
would  I,  for  ten  thousand  worlds,  resign  the  peace  and  satis- 
faction I  have  in  my  heart." 

From  the  scaffold  Yane  surveyed  the  surrounding  multi- 
tude with  composure,  and  sought  to  speak  to  them  of  Eng- 
lish liberty,  wishing  to  confirm  the  wavering  and  convince 
the  ignorant  by  his  martyrdom.  His  voice  was  overpowered 
with  trumpets ;  not  disconcerted  by  the  rudeness,  he  foretold 
to  those  around  him  that  a  better  day  would  dawn  in  the 


850     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    pabt  n. ;  oh.  n. 

clouds,  though  "  they  were  coming  thicker  and  thicker  for  a 
season."  "  Blessed  be  God,"  exclaimed  he,  as  he  bared  his 
neck  for  the  axe,  "  I  have  kept  a  conscience  void  of  offence  to 
this  day,  and  have  not  deserted  the  righteous  cause  for  which 
I  suffer."  In  the  history  of  the  world,  he  was  the  first  martyr 
to  the  principle  of  the  paramount  power  of  the  people ;  and, 
as  he  predicted,  "  his  blood  gained  a  voice  to  speak  his  inno- 
cence." Milton,  ever  parsimonious  of  praise,  devoted  a  ma- 
jestic poem  to  encomiums  on  him  when  "  young  in  years  but 
in  sage  counsel  old,"  the  best  of  senators,  the  eldest  son  of 
religion  ;  and  Clarendon,  writing  for  posterity,  records  of 
him :  "  If  he  were  not  superior  to  Hampden,  he  was  inferior 
to  no  other  man ; "  "  his  whole  life  made  good  the  imagina- 
tion that  there  was  in  him  something  extraordinary." 

Puritanism,  with  the  sects  to  which  it  gave  birth,  ceased 
to  sway  the  destinies  of  England.  The  army  of  Cromwell 
displayed  its  might  in  the  field ;  Milton  still  lived  to  create 
works  that  are  among  the  noblest  productions  of  the  human 
mind ;  Yane  proved  how  fearlessly  it  could  bear  witness  for 
truth  in  the  face  of  death ;  New  England  is  the  monument 
of  its  ability  to  establish  free  states. 

The  new  parliament  was  chosen  in  1660,  just  before  the 
coronation,  while  the  country  still  glowed  with  unreflecting 
loyalty.  Eew  Presbyterians  were  returned:  the  irresistible  ma- 
jority, many  of  whom  had  fought  for  the  king,  was  all  for  mon- 
archy and  prelacy.  Severe  enactments  restrained  the  press ; 
the  ancient  right  of  petition  was  narrowed  and  placed  under 
supervision.  The  restored  king  was  a  papist ;  but  whoever 
should  affirm  him  to  be  a  papist  was  incapacitated  from  hold- 
ing office  in  church  or  state.  He  was  ready  "to  conspire 
with  the  king  of  France  and  wicked  advisers  at  home,  to 
subvert  the  religion  and  liberty  of  the  English  people ; "  and 
the  parliament,  in  its  eagerness  to  condemn  rebellion,  re- 
nounced for  itself  every  right  of  withstanding  him  even  in 
defensive  war. 

The  Presbyterians  formed  the  governing  body  in  many 
municipalities;  the  sincere  ones  were  dislodged  by  an  act 
removing  all  incumbents  who  should  not  by  oath  declare  it 
unlawful  to  take  up  arms  against  the  king  on  any  pretence 


1660.  THE  RESTORED  DYNASTY.  351 

whatsoever;  and  requiring  of  every  candidate  that,  within 
the  year  before  the  election,  he  should  have  received  the  sac- 
rament according  to  the  rites  of  the  church  of  England. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  the  ceremonies,  liaving 
never  been  abrogated  by  law,  revived  with  the  restoration. 
From  Holland  the  king  had  in  some  measure  laid  asleep  the 
watchfulness  of  those  whom  he  most  feared,  by  promising  that 
the  scruples  of  the  Presbyterians  should  be  respected  ;  and, 
with  regard  to  ceremonies,  pretended  that  he  would  have  none 
to  receive  the  sacrament  on  the  knees  or  to  use  the  cross  in 
baptism.  Cranmer  saw  no  intrinsic  difference  between  bishops 
and  priests ;  and  "  the  old  common,  moderate  sort "  of  Episco- 
palians had  taken  Episcopacy  to  be  good,  but  not  necessary, 
and  owned  the  reformed  churches  of  the  continent  to  be  true 
ones.  "  Episcopal  ordination  was  now,  for  the  first  time,"  so 
writes  a  great  English  historian,  "  made  an  indispensable  quali- 
fication for  church  preferment."  The  reformed  churches,  alike 
of  England  and  the  continent,  were  excluded  from  fellowship 
with  the  Anglican  church.  Every  minister,  who  should  not, 
before  the  twenty-fourth  of  August,  1662,  publicly  declare  his 
assent  and  consent  to  everything  contained  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  was  by  his  silence  deprived  of  his  benefice ; 
and  on  that  day  nearly  two  thousand  persons  gave  up  their 
livings  rather  than  stain  their  consciences.  The  subscription 
was  required  even  of  schoolmasters :  at  one  swoop,  the  right 
of  teaching  was  taken  away  from  every  person  in  England, 
except  churchmen. 

An  act  of  1664  made  attendance  at  a  dissenting  place  of 
worship  a  crime,  to  be  punished,  on  conviction  without  a  jury, 
before  a  single  justice  of  the  peace,  by  long  imprisonment  for 
the  first  and  second  offence,  and  by  seven  years'  transportation 
for  the  third.  But  the  exiled  Calvinist  might  not  be  shipped 
to  Kew  England,  where  he  would  have  found  sympathy  and 
an  open  career.  To  strike  a  death  blow  at  non-conformity,  a 
statute  of  1665  required  the  deprived  to  swear  that  it  is  not 
lawful,  under  any  pretext  whatsoever,  to  take  arms  against  the 
king,  and  that  they  would  not  at  any  time  endeavor  any  al- 
teration in  church  or  state.  Those  who  refused  this  oath  were 
forbidden  to  come  within  five  miles  of  any  city,  corporate 


352     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  ii. 

town,  borough  sending  members  to  parliament,  or  towns  where 
they  had  themselves  resided  as  ministers. 

To  the  Anglican  church  this  total  expulsion  of  the  Calvin- 
ists  wrought  evil,  while  every  terrible  oppression  of  dissenters 
in  England,  in  Scotland,  or  in  Ireland,  drove  the  best  of  them 
to  America. 

The  American  colonies  were  held  to  be  subordinate  to  the 
English  parliament,  and  bound  by  its  acts,  whenever  they 
were  specially  named  in  a  statute  or  clearly  embraced  within 
its  provisions.  But  Massachusetts  had  refused  to  be  subject 
to  the  laws  of  parliament,  and  had  remonstrated  against  such 
subjection,  as  "  the  loss  of  English  liberty."  The  Long  Par- 
liament had  conceded  the  justice  of  the  remonstrance. 

On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the  convention  parlia- 
ment in  1660  granted  to  the  monarch  a  subsidy  of  twelve- 
pence  in  the  pound — that  is,  of  five  per  cent — on  all  merchan- 
dise exported  from  or  imported  into  the  kingdom  of  England, 
or  "  any  dominion  thereto  belonging."  The  tax  was  never 
levied  in  the  colonies ;  nor  was  it  understood  that  the  colonies 
were  bound  by  a  statute,  unless  they  were  expressly  named. 

That  distinctness  was  not  wanting,  when  it  was  required 
by  the  interests  of  English  merchants.  The  navigation  act  of 
the  commonwealth  had  not  been  designed  to  trammel  the 
commerce  of  the  colonies ;  the  convention  parliament  con- 
nected in  one  act  the  protection  of  English  shipping  and  a 
monopoly  to  the  English  merchant  of  the  trade  with  the  colo- 
nies. In  the  reign  of  Richard  II.,  the  commerce  of  English 
ports  had  been  secured  to  English  shipping :  the  act  of  navi- 
gation of  1651  had  done  no  more.  The  present  act  renewed 
the  same  provisions,  and  added  :  "  'No  merchandise  shall  be 
imported  into  the  plantations  but  in  English  vessels,  navigated . 
by  Englishmen,  under  penalty  of  forfeiture."  Henceforw^ard, 
no  one  but  a  native  or  naturalized  subject  might  become  a 
merchant  or  factor  in  any  English  settlement. 

American  industry  offered  articles  for  exportation  of  two 
kinds.  Some  were  produced  in  quantities  only  in  America, 
and  would  not  compete  in  the  English  market  with  English 
productions.  These  were  enumerated,  an(l  it  was  declared 
that  none  of  them — that  is,  no  sugar,  tobacco,  ginger,  indigo, 


1660-1673.  THE  NAVIGATION   ACTS.  353 

cotton,  fustic,  dyeing  woods-^shall  be  transported  to  any  other 
country  than  those  belonging  to  the  crown  of  England,  under 
penalty  of  forfeiture ;  and,  as  new  articles  of  industry  of  this 
class  grew  up,  they  w^ere  added  to  the  list.  But  such  other 
commodities  as  the  English  merchant  might  not  find  con- 
venient to  buy,  the  American  planter  might  ship  to  foreign 
markets;  the  farther  olf  the  better,  because  they  would 
thus  interfere  less  with  the  trades  which  w^ere  carried  on 
in  England.  The  colonists  were,  therefore,  by  a  clause  in 
the  navigation  act,  confined  to  ports  south  of  Cape  Finis- 
terre. 

Hardly  had  time  enough  elapsed  for  a  voyage  or  two  across 
the  Atlantic,  before  it  was  found  that  the  English  merchant 
might  derive  still  further  advantages  at  the  cost  of  the  colo- 
nists.    A  new  law,  of  1663,  prohibited  the  importation  of  Eu- 
ropean commodities  into  the  colonies,  except  in  English  ships      ^. 
from  England,  to  the  end  that  England  might  be  made  the    fC 
*^^  staple  not  only  of  colonial  productions  but  of  colonial  supplies.      ^^ 
T^   Thus  the  colonists  were  compelled  to  buy  in  England  not  only     ^  ^ 
all  English  manufactures,  but  everything  else  that  they  might 
need  from  any  soil  but  their  own. 

The  activity  of  the  shipping  of  New  England  excited  envy 
in  the  niinds  of  the  English  merchants.  '  The  produce  of  the 
plantations  of  the  southern  colonies  were  brought  to  New  Eng- 
yl^nd,  as  a  result  of  colonial  exchanges.  In  1673,  parliament 
therefore  resolved  to  exclude  New  England  merchants  from  -y 
competing  with  the  English  in  the  markets  of  the  southern 
plantations ;  the  liberty  of  free  trafiic  between  the  colonies  (yL 
was  accordingly  taken  away;  and  enumerated  commodities 
exported  from  one  colony  to  another  were  subjected' to  a  duty 
equivalent  to  the  duty  on  the  consumption  of  these  commodi- 
ties in  England. 

By  degrees,  the  greed   of  English   shopkeepers  became 
bolder ;  and  America  was  forbidden,  by  act  of  parliament,  not  ^ 
merely  to  manufacture  those  articles  which  might  ecmipete.^    ^ — 
with  the  English  in  foreign  markets,  but  even^.^lj©  supply  hel*-'       ^ 
self,  by  her  own  industry,  with  those  articfes'which  her  posi- 
tion enabled  her  to  manufacture  with  success.     «  ' 

The  policy  of  Great  Britain,  with  respect  to  her  colonies. 


354     BRITISH  AMEEICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  ii. 

was  a  system  of  monopoly,  adopted  after  the  example  of  Spain, 
and  for  more  than  a  century  inflexibly  pursued,  in  no  less  than 
twenty-nine  acts  of  parliament.  The  colonists  were  allowed 
to  sell  to  foreigners  only  what  England  would  not  take ;  so 
that  they  might  gain  means  to  pay  for  the  articles  forced  upon 
them  by  England.  The  colonies  could  buy  European  and 
all  foreign  commodities  only  at  the  shops  of  the  metropolis ; 
and  thus  the  merchant  of  the  mother  country  could  sell  his 
goods  for  a  little  more  than  they  were  worth.  England  gained 
at  the  expense  of  America.  The  profit  of  the  one  was  bal- 
anced by  the  loss  of  the  other. 

In  the  sale  of  their  products,  the  colonists  were  equally  in- 
jured. The  English,  being  the  sole  purchasers,  could  obtain 
those  products  at  a  little  less  than  their  fair  value.  The  mer- 
chant of  Bristol  or  London  was  made  richer ;  the  planter  of 
Virginia  or  Maryland  was  made  poorer.  ISTo  new  value  was 
created ;  one  lost  what  the  other  gained  ;  and  both  parties  had 
equal  claims  to  the  benevolence  of  the  legislature. 

Thus  the  colonists  were  wronged,  both  in  their  purchases 
and  in  their  sales ;  the  law  "  cut  them  with  a  double  edge." 
The  English  consumer  gained  nothing ;  for  the  surplus  colo- 
nial produce  was  re-exported  to  other  nations.  The  English 
merchant,  not  the  English  people,  profited  by  the  injustice. 
Moreover,  the  navigation  act  involved  England  in  contradic- 
tions ;  she  was  herself  a  monopolist  of  her  own  colonial  trade, 
and  yet  steadily  aimed  at  sharing  the  trade  of  the  Spanish  set- 
tlements. 

In  the  domestic  policy  of  England,  the  act  increased  the 
tendency  to  nnequal  legislation.  The  English  merchant  hav- 
ing become  the  sole  factor  for  American  colonies,  and  the 
manufacturer  claiming  to  supply  colonial  wants,  the  English 
landholder  consented  to  upheld  the  artificial  system  only  by 
sharing  in  its  emoluments ;  and,  in  1663,  corn  laws  began  to  be 
enacted,  in  order  to  secure  the  profits  of  capital,  applied  to 
agriculture,  against  foreign  and  colonial  competition.  The 
system  which  impoverished  "*the  Yirginia  planter,  by  lowering 
the  price  of  his  tobacco  crop,  oppressed  the  English  laborer, 
by  raising  the  price  of  his  bread  ;  and  at  last  a  whig  ministry 
offered  a  bounty  on  ithe  exportation  of  com. 


1663.  THE  NAVIGATION  ACTS.  355: 

Durable  relations  in  society  are  correlative  and  reciprocally 
beneficial.  In  this  case,  the  statute  was  made  bj  one  party  to 
bind  the  other,  and  was  made  on  iniquitous  principles.  Estab- 
lished as  the  law  of  the  strongest,  it  could  endure  no  longer 
than  the  superiority  in  force.  It  converted  commerce,  which  * 
should  be  the  bond  of  peace,  into  a  source  of  rankling  hostil- 
ity, and  contained  a  pledge  of  the  ultimate  independence  of 
America.  ^ 

To  the  colonists,  the  navigation  acts  were  an  unmitigated 
evil ;  for  the  prohibition  of  planting  tobacco  in  England  and 
Ireland  was  useless.  As  a  mode  of  taxing  the  colonies,  the 
monopoly  was  a  failure ;  the  contribution  was  made  to  the 
merchant,  not  to  the  treasury  of  the  public. 

The  usual  excuse  for  colonial  restrictions  is  founded  on 
the  principle  that  colonies  were  established  at  the  cost  of  the 
mother  country  for  that  very  purpose.  Of  the  American  colo- 
nies, the  state  founded  not  one.  Virginia  was  begun  by  private 
companies  ;  New  England  was  the  home  of  exiles,  whom  Eng- 
land owned  as  her  children  only  to  oppress  them ! 

The  monopoly,  it  must  be  allowed,  was  of  the  least  injuri- 
ous kind.  It  was  conceded  not  to  an  individual,  nor  to  a  com- 
pany, nor  to  a  single  city,  but  to  all  Englishmen. 

The  history  of  the  navigation  acts  would  be  incomplete 
were  it  not  added  that,  whatever  party  obtained  a  majority,  it 
never,  till  the  colonies  gained  great  strength,  occurred  to  the 
British  parliament  that  the  legislation  was  a  wrong.  Bigotry- 
is  not  exclusively  a  passion  of  religious  superstition ;  it  is  the 
obstinate,  unreasoning,  and  merciless  zeal  with  which  selfishness 
in  power  upholds  an  unjust  interest.  The  English  parliament, 
as  the  instrument  of  mercantile  eagerness  for  gain,  had  no 
scruple  in  commencing  the  legislation,  which,  when  the  colo- 
nists grew  powerful,  was,  by  the  greatest  British  economist,  de- 
clared to  be  "  a  manifest  violation  of  the  rights  of  mankind." 


356     BRITISH  AMERICA   FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  m. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CONNECTICUT,    RHODE   ISLAND,   AND   CHARLES   H. 

The  commission  issued  by  the  king  on  the  first  day  of  De- 
cember, 1660,  to  Clarendon  and  seven  others  as  a  standing 
council,  for  regulating  the  numerous  remote  colonies  and  gov- 
ernments, "  so  many  ways  considerable  to  the  crown,"  included 
the  names  of  the  earl  of  Manchester  and  the  Yiscount  Say 
and  Seal,  who  were  sincere  friends  to  IS^ew  England. 

Massachusetts,  which  had  been  republican,  but  never  regi- 
cide, strong  in  its  charter,  made  no  haste  to  present  itself  in 
England  as  a  suppliant.  "  The  colony  of  Boston,"  wrote  Stuy- 
vesant,  "  remains  constant  to  its  old  maxims  of  a  free  state, 
dependent  on  none  but  God."  Had  the  king  resolved  on 
sending  them  a  governor,  the  several  towns  and  churches 
throughout  the  whole  country  were  resolved  to  oppose  him. 

The  colonies  of  Plymouth,  of  Connecticut,  and  of  New 
Haven,  not  less  than  of  Rhode  Island,  proclaimed  the  new 
king  and  acted  in  his  name.  Connecticut  appeared  in  London 
by  its  representative,  the  younger  Winthrop.  Its  people  had 
purchased  lands  of  the  assigns  of  the  earl  of  Warwick,  and 
from  Uncas  the  territory  of  the  Mohegans ;  the  news  of  the 
restoration  awakened  a  desire  for  a  patent.  But  they  pro- 
ceeded warily ;  they  draughted  among  themselves  the  instru- 
ment which  they  desired  the  king  to  ratify ;  and  they  could 
plead  for  their 'possessions  their  rights  by  purchase,  by  con- 
quest from  the  Pequods,  and  by  their  own  labor  which  had 
redeemed  the  wilderness.  A  letter  was  addressed  to  the  aged 
Lord  Say  and  Seal,  their  early  friend. 

The  venerable  man  secured  for  his  clients  the  kind  offices 
of  the  lord  chamberlain,  the  earl  of  Manchester,  a  man  "  of 


J 


1661-1&62.  CONNECTICUT  AND   CHARLES   II.  357 

an  obliging  temper,  universally  beloved,  being  of  a  virtuous 
and  generous  mind."  "  Indeed  lie  was  a  noble  and  a  worthy 
lord,  and  one  that  loved  the  godly."  "  He  and  Lord  Say  did 
join  together,  that  their  godly  friends  in  New  England  might 
enjoy  their  just  rights  and  liberties." 

But  the  chief  happiness  of  Connecticut  was  in  the  selec- 
tion of  its  agent.  The  younger  Winthrop,  as  a  child,  had 
been  the  pride  of  his  father's  house ;  he  had  received  the  best 
instruction  which  Cambridge  and  Dublin  could  afford,  and 
had  perfected  his  education  by  visiting,  in  part  at  least,  in  the 
public  service,  not  Holland  and  France  only,  in  the  days  of 
Prince  Maurice  and  Kichelieu,  but  Yenice  and  Constantinople. 
As  he  travelled  through  Europe,  he  sought  the  society  of 
men  eminent  for  learning.  Returning  to  England  in  the 
bloom  of  life,  with  the  fairest  promise  of  advancement,  he 
preferred  to  follow  his  father  to  the  New  World,  regarding 
"  diversities  of  countries  but  as  so  many  inns,"  alike  conduct- 
ing to  "  the  journey's  end."  When  his  father  became  impov- 
erished, the  son,  unsolicited  and  without  recompense,  relin- 
quished his  inheritance,  that  "  it  might  be  spent  in  furthering 
the  great  work "  in  Massachusetts,  himself,  without  wealth, 
engaging  in  the  enterprise  of  planting  Connecticut.  Care  for 
posterity  seemed  the  motive  to  his  actions.  He  respected 
learning  and  virtue  and  ability  in  whatever  sect  they  might 
be  found ;  and,  when  Quakers  were  the  objects  of  persecu- 
tion, he  was  unremitting  in  argument  and  entreaty  to  prevent 
the  taking  of  their  lives.  He  never  regretted  the  brilliant 
prospects  he  had  resigned,  nor  complained  of  the  compara- 
tive solitude  of  New  London ;  books  furnished  employment 
to  his  mind ;  the  study  of  nature  according  to  the  principles 
of  the  philosophy  of  Bacon  was  his  delight,  for  "  he  had  a 
gift  in  understanding  and  art ; "  and  his  home  was  endeared 
by  a  happy  marriage  and  "many  sweet  children.".    Under- 

1  Stan  ding  the  springs  of  action  and  the  principles  that  control 
affairs,  he  never  attempted  impracticable  things,  and  noise- 
lessly succeeded  in  all  that  he  undertook.  The  New  World 
was  full  of  his  praises  ;  Puritans  and  Quakers  and  the  freemen 
of  Rhode  Island  were  alike  his  eulogists ;  the  Dutch  at  New 
York  had  confidence  in  his  integrity ;  and  it  is  the  beautiful 


358    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  in. 

testimony  of  his  own  father  that  "  God  gave  him  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do."  His  personal  merits, 
sympathy  for  his  family,  his  exertions,  the  petition  of  the  col- 
ony, and  the  ready  good- will  of  Clarendon — for  we  nmst  not 
reject  all  faith  in  generous  feeling — easily  prevailed  to  obtain 
for  Connecticut  an  ample  patent.  The  courtiers  of  King 
Charles,  who  themselves  had  an  eye  to  possessions  in  America, 
suggested  no  limitations;  and  perhaps  it  was  believed  that 
Connecticut  would  serve  to  balance  the  power  of  Massachusetts. 

The  charter^ealed  on  the  twentieth  of  April,  1662,  con- 
nected New  Haven  and  Hartford  in  one  colony,  with  limits 
extending  from  the  Narragansett  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 
It  confirmed  to  the  colonists  the  right  to  govern  themselves, 
which  they  had  assumed  from  the  beginning.  They  were  al- 
lowed to  elect  all  their  own  officers,  to  enact  their  own  laws, 
to  administer  justice  without  appeals  to  England,  to  inflict 
punishments,  to  confer  pardons,  and,  in  a  word,  to  exercise 
every  power,  deliberative  and  active.  The  king,  far  from 
reserving  a  negative  on  their  laws,  did  not  even  require  that 
they  should  be  transmitted  for  his  inspection ;  and  no  provi- 
sion was  made  for  the  interference  of  the  English  government 
in  any  event  whatever.  Connecticut  was  independent  except 
in  name. 

After  his  successful  negotiations,  varied  by  active  concert 
in  founding  the  Royal  Society,  Winthrop  returned  to  Ameri- 
ca. The  amalgamation  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  was 
effected  without  collision,  though  New  Haven  was  at  first 
reluctant  to  merge  itself  in  the  larger  colony.  The  well- 
founded  gratitude  of  the  united  commonwealth  followed  him 
throughout  his  life ;  and  for  fourteen  years  he  was  annually 
elected  its  chief  magistrate. 

The  charter  of  Connecticut  secured  to  her  an  existence  of 
unsurpassed  tranquillity.  Unmixed  popular  power  was  safe 
under  the  shelter  of  severe  morality ;  and  beggary  and  crime 
could  not  thrive.  From  the  first,  the  minds  of  the  yeomanry 
were  kept  active  by  the  constant  exercise  of  the  elective 
franchise ;  and,  except  under  James  H.,  there  was  no  such 
thing  in  the  land  as  a  home  officer  appointed  by  the  English 
king.     The  government  was  in  honest  and  upright  hands ;  the 


X6Q2.  COi^NEOTICUT  AND   CHARLES  II.  359 

Btrifes  of  rivalry  never  became  heated ;  in  the  choice  of  mag- 
istrates, gifts  of  learning  and  genius  were  valued,  but  the  state 
was  content  with  virtue  and  single-mindedness ;  and  the  pub- 
lic welfare  never  suffered  at  the  hands  of  plain  men.  Koger 
Williams  was  ever  a  welcome  guest  at  Hartford ;  and  "  that 
heavenly  man,  John  Haynes,"  would  say  to  him :  "  I  think, 
Mr.  Williams,  I  must  now  confesse  to  you  that  the  most  wise 
God  hath  provided  and  cut  out  this  part  of  the  world  as  a 
refuge  and  receptacle  for  all  sorts  of  consciences."  There 
never  existed  a  persecuting  spirit  in  Connecticut ;  and  "  it  had 
a  scholar  to  their  minister  in  every  town  or  village."  Keligi- 
ous  speculation  was  carried  to  the  highest  degree  of  refine- 
ment, alike  in  its  application  to  moral  duties  and  to  the  myste- 
rious questions  on  the  nature  of  God,  of  liberty,  and  of  the 
soul.  A  hardy  race  multiplied  along  the  alluvion  of  the 
streams,  and  subdued  less  inviting  fields ;  its  population  for  a 
century  doubled  once  in  twenty  years,  in  spite  of  considerable 
emigration.  Keligion  united  with  the  pursuits  of  agriculture 
to  form  a  people  of  steady  habits.  The  domestic  wars  were 
discussions  of  knotty  points  in  theology ;  the  concerns  of  the 
parish,  the  merits  of  the  minister,  were  the  weightiest  affairs ; 
and  a  church  reproof  the  heaviest  calamity.  The  strifes  of 
the  parent  country,  though  they  sometimes  occasioned  a  levy 
among  the  sons  of  the  husbandmen,  never  brought  an  enemy 
over  their  border.  No  fears  of  midnight  ruffians  disturbed 
the  sweetness  of  slumber ;  the  best  house  required  no  fasten- 
ing but  a  latch,  lifted  by  a  string. 

Industry  enjoyed  the  abundance  which  it  created,  l^o 
great  inequalities  of  condition  excited  envy  or  raised  political 
feuds  ;  wealth  could  display  itself  only  in  a  larger  house  and 
a  fuller  barn.  There  was  venison  from  the  hills ;  salmon,  in 
their  season,  not  less  than  shad,  from  the  rivers  ;  and  sugar 
from  the  maple  of  the  forest.  For  a  foreign  market  little 
was  produced  beside  cattle ;  and,  in  return  for  them,  but  few 
foreign  luxuries  stole  in.  Even  so  late  as  1713,  the  number 
of  seamen  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  twenty.  The  soil 
had  originally  been  justly  divided,  or  held  as  common  property 
in  trust  for  the  public,  and  for  new-comers.  There  was  for 
a  long  time  hardly  a  lawyer  in  the  land.     The  husbandman 


S60    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  ch.  m. 

who  held  his  own  plough  and  fed  his  own  cattle,  was  the 
great  man  of  that  day ;  no  one  was  superior  to  the  matron, 
who,  with  her  busy  daughters,  kept  the  hum  of  the  wheel  in- 
cessantly alive,  spinning  and  weaving  every  article  of  their 
dress.  Life  was  uniform.  The  only  revolution  was  from  the 
time  of  sowing  to  the  time  of  reaping ;  from  the  plain  dress 
of  the  week  to  the  more  trim  attire  of  Sunday.  There  was 
nothing  morose  in  the  Connecticut  character.  Frolic  mingled 
with  innocence;  and  the  annual  thanksgiving  to  God  was, 
from  primitive  times,  as  joyous  as  it  was  sincere. 

One  question  distressed  and  divided  families.  Without 
inward  experience  of  the  truth  and  power  of  Christianity,  no 
one  of  a  congregation  of  Calvinists  was  admitted  to  take  the 
covenant  which  gave  admission  to  the  communion  table  ;  and 
the  rite  of  baptism  was  administered  to  the  children  of  those 
only  who  were  communicants.  There  grew  up  an  increasing 
number  of  parents  of  blameless  lives,  who  did  not  become 
members  of  the  church  and  yet  wished  baptism  for  their 
children.  Influenced  by  their  condition,  the  general  court  of 
Connecticut  expressed  a  desire  for  a  council  of  ministers  of 
the  four  confederated  Calvinistic  colonies.  The  general  court 
of  Massachusetts  proposed  to  refer  the  question  to  a  general 
synod,  and  of  itself  went  so  far  as  to  appoint  fifteen  ministers 
of  its  own  colony  as  its  delegates.  Connecticut  readily  followed 
the  example ;  but  Plymouth  kept  aloof ;  and  the  austere  colony 
of  New  Haven,  guided  by  the  inflexible  Davenport,  not  only 
refused  to  send  delegates,  but  by  letter  strongly  rebuked  the 
measure  as  fraught  with  dangers  to  religion.  Yet,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 165Y,  the  synod,  representing  the  two  colonies  which, 
in  extent  of  territory  and  in  numbers,  far  outweighed  the  rest, 
sanctioned  the  baptizing  of  children  of  parents  who  themselves 
had  been  baptized,  and  though  they  were  not  ready  to  assume 
all  the  obligations  of  church  members,  would  yet  promise  to 
give  their  offspring  a  Christian  education.  This  mode  of  set- 
tlement was  called  in  derision  "  the  half-way  covenant." 

By  the  customs  of  the  Congregational  churches,  the  vote 
of  a  synod  was  but  a  recommendation,  leaving  the  decision  to 
each  church  for  itself.  In  1662,  a  Massachusetts  synod  re- 
peated the  advice  which  had  before  been  given  in  con  June- 


1662-1664.     CONNECTICUT,  RHODE  I.,  AND   CHARLES  H.    361 

tion  with  Connecticut ;  and  the  general  court  sent  it  to  the 
several  towns  "  for  the  consideration  of  all  the  churches  and 
people."  There,  in  Massachusetts,  legislative  action  on  the 
matter  ended.  In  1664,  the  general  court  of  Connecticut, 
after  its  absorption  of  ]N^ew  JIaven,  recommended  the  less 
exclusive  system  to  the  churches  ;  but  the  majority  of  them 
adhered  stiffly  to  the  ancient  rule. 

The  frugality  of  private  life  had  its  influence  on  public 
expenditure.  Half  a  century  after  the  concession  of  the  char- 
ter, the  annual  expenses  of  the  government  did  not  exceed 
eight  hundred  pounds.  The  wages  of  the  chief  justice  wei*e 
ten  shillings  a  day  while  on  service.  In  each  county  a  magis- 
trate acted  as  judge  of  probate,  and  the  business  was  trans- 
acted with  small  expense  to  the  fatherless. 

There  were  common  schools  from  the  first.  Nor  was 
it  long  before  a  college,  such  as  the  day  of  small  things  per- 
mitted, began  to  be  established  ;  and  Yale  owes  its  birth 
"  to  ten  worthy  fathers,  who,  in  1700,  assembled  at  Bran- 
ford,  and  each  one,  laying  a  few  volumes  on  a  table,  said  : 
'  I  give  these  books  for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  this 
colony.'  " 

But  the  political  education  of  the  people  is  due  to  the 
happy  organization  of  towns,  which  here,  as  throughout  all  New 
England,  constituted  each  settlement  in  its  local  affairs  a  self- 
governing  democracy.  In  the  ancient  republics,  citizenship 
had  been  an  hereditary  privilege.  In  Connecticut,  it  was 
acquired  by  inhabitancy,  was  lost  by  removal.  Each  town- 
meeting  was  a  legislative  body ;  and  all  inhabitants,  the  afflu- 
ent and  the  more  needy,  the  reasonable  and  the  foolish,  were 
members  with  equal  franchises.  There  the  taxes  of  the  town 
were  discussed  and  levied ;  there  its  officers  were  chosen ; 
there  roads  were  laid  out  and  bridges  voted ;  there  the  minis- 
ter was  elected,  the  representatives  to  the  assembly  were  in- 
structed. The  debate  was  open  to  all ;  wisdom  asked  no 
favors ;  the  churl  abated  nothing  of  his  pretensions.  Who- 
ever reads  the  records  of  these  village  commonwealths  will  be 
perpetually  coming  upon  some  little  document  of  rare  political 
sagacity.  When  Connecticut  emerged  into  scenes  where  a 
tiew  political  world  was  to  be  created,  the  rectitude  that  had 

VOL.  I. — 26  \ 


362    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  ni, 

ordered  the  affairs  of  a  neighborhood  showed  itself  in  the  field 
and  in  council. 

During  the  intervening  century,  we  shall  rarely  have  occa- 
sion to  recur  to  Connecticut :  its  institutions  were  perfected, 
and,  with  transient  interruptioift,  were  unharmed.  To  describe 
its  condition  is  but  to  enumerate  the  blessings  of  self-govern- 
ment, as  exercised  by  a  community  of  thoughtful  freeholders, 
who  have  neither  a  nobility  nor  a  populace.  How  dearly  it 
remembered  the  parent  island  is  told  by  the  English  names  of 
its  towns.  Could  Charles  II.  have  looked  back  upon  earth, 
and  seen  what  security  his  gift  of  a  charter  had  conferred,  he 
might  have  gloried  in  an  act  which  redeemed  his  life  from  the 
charge  of  having  been  unproductive  of  public  happiness.  In 
a  proclamation,  Connecticut,  under  its  great  seal,  told  the 
world  that  its  days  under  the  charter  were  "halcyon  days  of 
peace."  Time,  as  it  advances,  may  unfold  scenes  of  more 
wealth  and  of  wider  action,  but  not  of  more  contentment  and 
purity. 

Hhode  Island  was  fostered  by  Charles  II.  with  still  greater 
liberality.  When  Roger  Williams  had  succeeded  in  obtaining 
from  the  Long  Parliament  the  confirmed  union  of  the  terri- 
tories that  now  constitute  the  state,  he  returned  to  America, 
leaving  John  Clarke  as  the  agent  of  the  colony  in  England. 
^Never  did  a  young  commonwealth  possess  a  more  faithful 
friend  ;  and  never  did  a  young  people  cherish  a  fonder  desire 
for  the  enfranchisement  of  mind.  "  Plead  our  case,"  they  had 
said  to  him  in  previous  instructions,  which  Grorton  and  others 
had  drafted,  "  in  such  sort  as  we  may  not  be  compelled  to  ex- 
ercise any  civil  power  over  men's  consciences  ;  we  do  judge  it 
no  less  than  a  point  of  absolute  cruelty."  And  now  that  the 
hereditary  monarch  was  restored  and  duly  acknowledged,  they 
had  faith  that  "  the  gracious  hand  of  Providence  would  pre- 
serve them  in  their  just  rights  and  privileges."  "  It  is  much 
in  our  hearts,"  they  urged  in  their  petition  to  Charles  II.,  "  to 
hold  forth  a  lively  experiment,  that  a  most  flourishing  civil 
state  may  stand,  and  best  be  maintained,  with  a  full  liberty  of 
religious  concernments."  The  good-natured  monarch  listened 
to  their  petition  ;  Clarendon  exerted  himself  in  their  behalf  ; 
the  making  trial  of  religious  freedom  in  a  nook  of  a  remote 


1663-1665.         EHODE  ISLAND  AND  CHARLES  II.  3^3 

continent  could  not  appear  dangerous ;  it  might  at  once  build 
up  another  rival  to  Massachusetts  and  solve  a  problem  in  the 
history  of  man.  The  charter,  retarded  only  by  controversies 
about  bounds,  on  the  eighth  of  July,  1663,  passed  the  seals, 
and,  with  new  principles,  embodied  all  that  had  been  granted 
to  Connecticut.  The  supreme  authority  was  committed  to  a 
governor,  deputy  governor,  ten  assistants,  and  deputies  from 
the  towns.  The  scruples  of  the  inhabitants  were  so  respected 
that  no  oath  of  allegiance  was  required  of  them ;  the  laws 
were  to  be  agreeable  to  those  of  England,  yet  with  the  kind 
reference  "  to  the  constitution  of  the  place,  and  the  nature  of 
the  people ; "  and  the  monarch  proceeded  to  exercise,  as  his 
brother  attempted  to  do  in  England,  and  as  by  the  laws  of 
England  he  could  not  do  within  the  realm,  the  dispensing 
power  in  matters  of  religion  :  "  'No  person  within  the  said  col- 
ony, at  any  time  hereafter,  shall  be  any  wise  molested,  pun- 
ished, disquieted,  or  called  in  question,  for  any  difference  in 
opinion  in  matters  of  religion ;  every  person  may  at  all  times 
freely  and  fully  enjoy  his  own  judgment  and  conscience  in 
matters  of  religious  concernments.'^ 

No  joy  could  be  purer  than  that  of  the  colonists  when,  in 
l^ovember,  1663,  the  news  was  spread  abroad  that  "  George 
Baxter,  the  most  faythful  and  happie  bringer  of  the  charter," 
had  arrived.  On  the  beautiful  island  of  Khode  Island,  the 
whole  people  gathered  together,  "  for  the  solemn  reception  of 
his  majesty's  gracious  letters-patent.'^  It  was  "  a  very  great 
meeting  and  assembly.""  The  letters  of  the  agent  "were 
opened,  and  read  with  good  delivery  and  attention;"  the 
charter  was  next  taken  forth  from  the  precious  box  that  con- 
tained it,  and  "  was  read  by  Baxter,  in  the  audience  and  view 
of  all  the  people ;  and  the  letters  with  his  majesty's  royal 
stamp  and  the  broad  seal,  with  much  beseeming  gravity 
were  held  up  on  high,  and  presented  to  the  perfect  view  of 
the  people." 

This  charter  of  government,  establishing  a  political  system- 
which  few  beside  the  Khode  Islanders  themselves  then  believed 
to  be  practicable,  remained  in  existence  till  it  became  the  old- 
est constitutional  charter  in  the  world.  The  probable  popu- 
lation of  Khode  Island,  at  the  time  of  its  reception,  may  have 


36i    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  ch.  in, 

been  two  thousand  ^ve  hundred.  In  one  hundred  and  seventy 
years  that  number  increased  forty-fold ;  and  the  government, 
which  was  hardly  thought  to  contain  checks  enough  on  the 
power  of  the  people  to  endure  even  among  shepherds  and 
farmers,  protected  a  dense  population  and  the  accumulations 
of  a  widely  extended  commerce.  IS^owhere  in  the  world  were 
life,  liberty,  and  property  safer  than  in  Rhode  Island. 

The  thanks  of  the  colony  were  unanimously  voted  to  a  tri- 
umvirate of  benefactors :  to  "  King  Charles  of  England,  for 
his  high  and  inestimable,  yea,  incomparable  favor ; "  to  Claren- 
don, who  had  shown  "  to  the  colony  exceeding  great  care  and 
love ; "  and  to  the  modest  and  virtuous  Clarke,  the  persevering 
and  disinterested  envoy,  who,  during  a  twelve  years'  mission, 
had  sustained  himself  by  his  own  exertions  and  a  mortgage  on 
his  estate ;  whose  whole  life  was  a  continued  exercise  of  be- 
nevolence, and  who,  at  his  death,  bequeathed  all  his- posses- 
sions for  the  relief  of  the  needy  and  the  education  of  the 
young.  Others  have  sought  office  to  advance  their  fortunes  ; 
he,  like  Roger  Williams,  parted  with  his  little  means  for  the 
public  good.  He  had  unsparing  enemies  in  Massachusetts, 
and  left  a  name  on  which  no  one  cast  a  shade. 

In  May,  1664,  the  assembly  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Isl- 
and, at  their  regular  session,  established  religious  freedom 
in  the  very  words  of  the  charter :  "  !N^o  person  shall  at  any 
time  hereafter  be  any  ways  called  in  question  for  any  dif- 
erence  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion."  In  May,  1665, 
the  legislature  asserted  that  "liberty  to  all  persons,  as  to 
the  worship  of  God,  had  been  a  principle  maintained  in  the 
colony  from  the  very  beginning  thereof ;  and  it  was  much 
in  their  hearts  to  preserve  the  same  liberty  for  ever."  The 
commissioners  from  England,  who  visited  Rhode  Island,  re- 
ported of  its  people :  "  They  allow  liberty  of  conscience  to 
all  who  live  civilly  ;  they  admit  of  all  religions."  And  again, 
in  1680,  the  government  of  the  colony  could  say,  what  there 
was  no  one  oppressed  individual  to  controvert :  "  We  leave 
every  man  to  walk  as  God  persuades  his  heart ;  all  our  people 
enjoy  freedom  of  conscience."  To  Jews  who  had  inquired  if 
they  could  find  a  home  in  Rhode  Island,  the  assembly  of  1684 
made  answer :  "  We  declare  that  they  may  e^ect  as  good  pro- 


1661-1681.         RHODE  ISLAND  AND   CHARLES  IL  365 

tection  here  as  any  stranger,  not  being  of  our  nation,  residing 
among  us  ought  to  have  ; "  and  in  August,  1694,  the  Jews,  who 
from  the  time  of  their  expulsion  from  Spain  had  had  no  safe 
resting-place,  entered  the  harbor  of  N^ewport  to  find  equal  pro- 
tection, and  in  a  few  years  to  build  a  house  of  God  for  a  Jew- 
ish congregation.  Freedom  of  conscience  "  to  every  man, 
whether  Jew,  or  Turk,  or  papist,  or  w^homsoever  that  steers 
no  otherwise  than  his  conscience  dares,"  was,  from  the  first, 
the  trophy  of  Rhode  Island. 

In  1665,  it  divided  its  general  assembly  into  tw^o  houses — 
a  change  which,  near  the  close  of  the  century,  was  perma- 
nently adopted.  It  was  importuned  by  Plymouth  and  vexed 
by  Connecticut  on  the  subject  of  boundaries. 

The  royal  commissioners,  in  1665,  required  of  all  the  oath 
of  allegiance ;  the  general  assembly,  scrupulous  in  its  respect 
for  the  rights  of  conscience,  would  listen  to  no  proposition 
except  for  an  engagement  of  fidelity  and  due  obedience  to 
the  laws  as  a  condition  of  exercising  the  elective  franchise. 
This  engagement  being  found  irksome  to  the  Quakers,  it  was 
the  next  year  repealed. 

Virginia  possessed  far  stronger  claims  to  favor  than  Rhode ' 
Island  and  Connecticut;  and,  in  April,  1661,  Sir  William 
Berkeley  embarked  for  England  as  her  agent.  We  shall  see 
how  vainly  she  asked  relief  from  the  navigation  act,  or  a  guar- 
antee for  her  constitution.  Her  agent,  joining  with  seven  oth- 
ers, obtained,  in  1663,  the  grant  of  Carolina,  which  narrowed 
her  limits  on  her  whole  southern  frontier.  King  Charles  was 
caricatured  in  Holland  with  a  woman  on  each  arm  and  cour- 
tiers picking  his  pocket ;  this  time  they  took  provinces,  which, 
if  divided  among  the  eight,  would  have  given  to  each  a  tract 
as  extensive  as  the  kingdom  of  France.  To  gratify  favorites, 
Yirginia,  in  1669,  was  dismembered  by  lavish  grants ;  and,  in 
1673,  all  that  remained  of  it  was  given  away  for  a  genera- 
tion, as  recklessly  as  a  man  might  part  with  a  life-estate  in  a 
barren  field. 

To  complete  the  picture  of  the  territorial  changes  made  by 
Charles  II.,  it  must  be  added  that,  in  1664,  he  not  only  en- 
feoffed his  brother,  the  duke  of  York,  with  the  country  be- 
tween Pemaquid  and  the  St.  Croix,  but — in  defiance  of  his  own 


BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paetii.;  oh.  m. 

charter  to  Winthrop  and  the  possession  of  tlje  Dutch  and  the 
rights  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants — with  the  country  from 
Connecticut  river  to  Delaware  bay.  In  1667,  Acadia,  with 
indefinite  boundaries,  was  restored  to  the  French.  In  1669, 
the  frozen  zone  was  invaded,  and  Prince  Eupert  and  his  as- 
sociates were  endowed  with  a  monopoly  of  the  regions  on 
Hudson's  bay.  In  1677,  the  proprietary  rights  to  E'ew  Hamp- 
shire and  Maine  were  revived,  in  the  intent  to  purchase  them 
for  the  duke  of  Monmouth.  In  1679,  after  Philip's  war  in 
ISTew  England,  Mount  Hope  was  hardly  rescued  from  a  cour- 
tier, then  famous  as  the  author  of  two  indifferent  comedies. 
The  charter  which  secured  a  large  and  fertile  province  to 
William  Penn,  and  thus  invested  philanthropy  with  execu- 
tive power  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Delaware,  was  a  grant 
from  Charles  II.  From  the  outer  cape  of  Nova  Scotia  to 
Florida,  with  few  exceptions,  the  tenure  of  every  territory 
was  changed.  Further,  the  trade  with  Africa,  the  link  in  the 
chain  of  universal  commerce,  that  first  joined  Europe,  Asia, 
and  America  together,  and  united  the  Caucasian,  the  Malay, 
and  the  Ethiopian  races,  was  given  away  to  a  company,  which 
alone  had  the  right  of  planting  on  the  African  coast. 

During  the  first  four  years  of  his  reign,  Charles  II.  gave 
away  a  large  part  of  a  continent.  Could  he  have  continued 
as  lavish,  in  the  course  of  his  rule  he  would  have  given  away 
the  world. 


1 


1660-1661.       MASSACHUSETTS  AND   CHARLES  II.  367 


CHAPTEE  TV. 

MASSACHUSETTS    AND    CHARLES    H. 

The  virtual  independence  which  had  been  hitherto  exer- 
cised bj  Massachusetts  was  too  dear  to  be  relinquished. 
The  news  of  the  restoration,  brought  to  Boston  in  July,  1660, 
by  the  ships  in  which  Goffe  and  Whalley,  two  of  the  regi- 
cide judges,  were  passengers,  was  received  with  skeptical 
anxiety,  and  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  event.  At  the  ses- 
sion of  the  general  court,  in  October,  a  motion  for  an  ad- 
dress to  the  king  did  not  succeed;  affairs  in  England  were 
still  regarded  as  unsettled.  In  November,  it  became  certain 
that  the  hereditary  family  of  kings  had  recovered  the  throne, 
and  that  swarms  of  enemies  to  the  colony  had  gathered  round 
the  new  government ;  a  general  court  was  convened,  and  ad- 
dresses were  prepared  for  the  parliament  and  the  monarch. 
By  advice  of  the  great  majority  of  elders,  no  judgment  was 
expressed  on  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  and  "  the  grievous 
confusions  "  of  the  past.  The  colonists  appealed  to  the  king 
of  England,  as  "a  king  who  had  seen  adversity,  and  who, 
having  himself  been  an  exile,  knew  the  hearts  of  exiles." 
They  prayed  for  "  the  continuance  of  civil  and  religious  liber- 
ties," and  against  complaints  requested  an  opportunity  of  de- 
fence. "  Let  not  the  king  hear  men's  words,"  such  was  their 
petition ;  "  your  servants  are  true  men,  fearing  God  and  the 
king.  We  could  not  live  without  the  public  worship  of  God ; 
that  we  might  enjoy  divine  worship  without  human  mixtures, 
we,  not  without  tears,  departed  from  our  country,  kindred, 
and  fathers'  houses.  Our  garments  are  become  old  by  reason 
of  the  very  long  journey;  ourselves,  who  came  away  in  our 
strength,  are,  many  of  us,  become  gray-headed,  and  some  of 


368    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO    1688.     pact  ii.  ;  on.  iv. 

US  stooping  for  age."  In  return  for  the  protection  of  their 
liberties,  they  promise  the  blessing  of  a  people  whose  trust  is 
in  God. 

Leverett,  the  patriotic  and  able  agent  of  the  colony,  was 
instructed  to  intercede  with  members  of  parliament  and  the 
privy  council  for  its  chartered  liberties ;  to  resist  appeals  to 
England,  alike  in  cases  civil  or  criminal.  Some  hope  was 
entertained  that  the  new  government  might  confirm  to  New 
England  commerce  the  favors  which  the  Long  Parliament 
had  conceded,  ^ut  Massachusetts  never  gained  an  exemption 
from  the  severity  of  the  navigation  acts  till  she  ceased  to  de- 
mand it  as  a  favor. 

At  this  juncture,  Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  red  men,  the 
same  who  had  claimed  for  the  people  a  voice  even  in  making 
treaties,  published  an  essay  "  on  the  Christian  commonwealth," 
showing  how  it  must  be  constituted  through  the  willing  self- 
organization  of  individuals  into  tens,  then  hundreds,  then 
thousands,  till  at  last  the  whole  would  form  itself  into  one 
strictly  popular  government.  His  treatise  was  condemned  as 
too  full  of  the  seditious  doctrines  of  democratic  liberty.  Upon 
this  the  single-minded  author  did  not  hesitate  to  suppress  it, 
and  in  guarded  language  to  acknowledge  the  form  of  govern- 
ment by  king,  lords,  and  commons,  as  not  only  lawful,  but 
eminent. 

A  letter  from  the  king,  expressing  general  good-will,  could 
not  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  the  colonists.  The  committee 
for  the  plantations  already,  in  April,  1661,  surmised  that  Mas- 
sachusetts would,  if  it  dared,  cast  off  its  allegiance,  and  resort 
to  an  alliance  with  Spain,  or  to  any  desperate  remedy,  rather 
than  admit  of  appeals  to  England.  Upon  this  subject  a  con- 
troversy immediately  arose ;  and  the  royal  government  re- 
solved to  establish  the  principle  which  the  Long  Parliament 
had  waived. 

It  was  therefore  not  without  reason  that  the  colony  fore- 
boded collision  with  the  crown  ;  and,  after  a  full  report  from 
a  numerous  committee,  of  which  Bradstreet,  Hawthorne, 
Mather,  and  Norton  were  members,  the  general  court,  on  the 
tenth  of  June,  1661,  published  a  declaration  of  natural  and 
chartered  rights.     In  this  paper,  which  was  probably  written 


1661-1662.       MASSACHUSETTS   AND   CHARLES   II. 

by  Thomas  Danforth,  they  declare  their  liberties  under  God 
and  their  patent  to  be :  to  choose  their  own  governor,  deputy 
governor,  and  representatives ;  to  admit  freemen  on  terms  to 
be  prescribed  at  their  own  pleasure ;  to  set  up  all  sorts  of  offi- 
cers, superior  and  inferior,  and  point  out  their  power  and 
places ;  to  exercise,  by  their  annually  elected  magistrates  and 
deputies,  all  power  and  authority,  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial,  without  appeal,  so  long  as  the  laws  were  not  repug- 
nant to  the  laws  of  England ;  to  defend  themselves  by  force 
of  arms  against  every  aggression  ;  and  to  reject,  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  their  right,  any  parliamentary  or  royal  imposition 
prejudicial  to  the  country,  and  contrary  to  any  just  act  of  colo- 
nial legislation."  The  duties  of  allegiance  were  narrowed  to 
a  few  points,  which  conceded  neither  revenue  nor  substantial 
power. 

When  the  Puritan  commonwealth  had  thus  joined  issue 
with  its  sovereign  by  denying  the  right  of  appeal  from  its 
courts,  and  with  the  English  parliament  by  declaring  the  navi- 
gation act  an  infringement  of  its  chartered  rights,  on  the  sev- 
enth of  August,  more  than  a  year  after  the  restoration,  Charles 
II.  was  proclaimed  at  Boston,  amid  the  cold  observation  of 
a  few  formalities.  Yet  the  "  gratulatory  and  lowly  script," 
sent  him  on  the  same  day,  interpreted  his  letter  as  an  answer 
of  peace  from  "  the  best  of  kings."  "  Eoyal  sir,"  it  contin- 
ued, excusing  the  tardiness  of  the  colony  with  unseemly  adu- 
lation, "  your  just  title  to  the  crown  enthronizeth  you  in  our 
consciences ;  your  graciousness  in  our  affections ;  that  inspir- 
eth  unto  dutie,  this  naturalizeth  unto  loyaltie ;  thence  wee  call 
you  lord,  hence  a  saviour.  Mephibosheth,  how  prejudicially 
soever  misrepresented,  yet  rejoiceth  that  the  king  is  come  in 
peace  to  his  owne  house,  ^owe  the  Lord  hath  dealt  well  with 
our  lord  the  king,  may  IS'ew  England,  under  your  royal  pro- 
tection, bee  permitted  still  to  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  this 
strange  land." 

'  The  young  republic  had  continued  the  exercise  of  its  gov- 
ernment as  of  right ;  complaints  against  her  had  multiplied  ; 
and  her  own  interests,  coinciding  with  the  express  orders  of 
the  monarch,  induced  her  to  send  envoys  to  London.  The 
country  was  divided  in  opinion ;  the  large  majority  insisted  on 


370    BPwITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  iv. 

sustaining  its  established  system  in  undiminislied  force  ;  others 
were  willing  to  make  such  concessions  as  would  satisfy  the 
ministry  of  Clarendon.  The  former  party  prevailed ;  and 
John  Norton,  an  accomplished  scholar  and  rigid  Puritan,  yet 
a  friend  to  moderate  counsels,  was  joined  with  the  worthy  but 
not  very  able  Simon  Bradstreet  in  the  commission  to  England. 
In  January,  1662,  they  were  instructed  to  persuade  the  king 
of  the  loyalty  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  yet  to  "  engage 
to  nothing  prejudicial  to  their  present  standing  according  to 
their  patent,  and  to  endeavor  the  establishment  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  then  enjoyed."  Letters  were  at  the  same  time 
transmitted  to  the  English  statesmen  on  whose  friendship  it 
was  safe  to  rely. 

King  Charles  received  the  messengers  with  courtesy ;  and 
they  returned  in  the  fall  with  the  royal  answer,  which  prob- 
ably originated  with  Clarendon.  The  charter  was  confirmed, 
and  an  amnesty  of  all  offences  during  the  late  troubles  was 
conditionally  promised.  But  the  king  directed  a  repeal  of  all 
laws  derogatory  to  his  authority;  the  taking  of  the  oath  of 
allegiance ;  the  administration  of  justice  in  his  name ;  a  con- 
cession of  the  elective  franchise  to  all  freeholders  of  compe- 
tent estates ;  and,  as  ''  the  principle  of  the  charter  was  the  * 
freedom  of  the  liberty  of  conscience,"  the  allowance  of  that 
freedom  to  those  who  desired  to  use  "  the  booke  of  common 
prayer,  and  perform  their  devotion  in  the  manner  established  , 
in  England." 

Henceforward  legal  proceedings  were  transacted  in  the 
king's  name;  and,  after  a  delay  of  two  years,  the  elective 
franchise  was  extended  to  all  freeholders  who  paid  an  annual 
tax  of  ten  shillings,  provided  the  general  court,  on  certificates 
to  their  orthodoxy  and  good  life,  should  admit  them  as  free- 
men. But  the  people  of  Massachusetts  regarded  not  so  much 
the  nature  of  the  requisitions  as  the  power  by  which  they  were 
made.  Complete  acquiescence  would  have  seemed  to  recog- 
nise in  the  monarch  the  right  of  reversing  the  judgments  of 
their  courts ;  of  dictating  laws  for  their  enactment ;  and  of 
changing  by  his  own  authority  the  character  of  their  domestic 
constitution.  The  question  of  obedience  was  a  question  of  lib- 
erty, and  gave  birth  to  the  parties  of  prerogative  and  of  freedom. 


1662-1664.       MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CHARLES  II.  371 

The  character  of  the  times  connected  religious  intolerance 
with  the  contest.  Episcopacy  and  monarchy  were  feared  as 
natural  allies :  Anabaptists  had  appeared  before  the  ministry 
in  England  as  plaintiffs  against  Massachusetts,  and  could  boast 
of  the  special  favor  of  Charles  II.  The  principles  of  tolera- 
tion were  rapidly  gaining  ground,  and  had  repeatedly  pos- 
sessed a  majority  in  one  branch  of  the  legislature ;  but  in 
the  fear  of  renewed  aggressions  from  the  royal  power,  a  cen- 
sorship over  the  press  was  established ;  and  the  distrust  of 
all  dissension  from  the  established  form  of  dissent  renewed 
the  energies  of  religious  bigotry!  The  representatives  resolved 
on  measures  conducive  "  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  to  the  felic- 
ity of  his  people ; "  that  is,  to  a  continuance  of  their  religious 
institutions  and  government. 

In  January,  1663,  the  council  for  the  colonies  complained 
of  Massachusetts  "  that  the  government  there  had  withdrawn 
all  manner  of  correspondence,  as  if  intending  to  suspend  their 
absolute  obedience  to  the  authority  "  of  the  king.  False  ru- 
mors, mingled  with  true  reports,  assisted  to  incense  the  court 
at  St.  James.  Whalley  and  Goffe,  it  was  currently  asserted, 
were  at  the  head  of  an  army ;  the  union  of  the  four  'New  Eng- 
land colonies  was  believed  to  have  had  its  origin  in  the  ex- 
press "  purpose  of  throwing  off  dependence  on  England."  Sir 
Thomas  Temple,  Cromwell's  governor  of  Acadia,  had  resided 
for  years  in  I^ew  England,  and  now  appeared  as  their  advo- 
cate. "  I  assure  you,"  such  was  Clarendon's  message  to  Mas- 
sachusetts, "  of  my  true  love  and  friendship  to  your  country ; 
neither  in  your  privileges,  charter,  government,  nor  church  dis- 
cipline, shall  you  receive  any  prejudice."  Yet  the  news  was 
soon  spread  abroad  that  commissioners  would  be  appointed  to 
regulate  the  affairs  of  New  England  ;  and,  early  in  1664,  there 
was  room  to  believe  that  they  had  already  embarked,  and  that 
ships-of-war  would  soon  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Boston> 

Precautionary  measures  were  promptly  adopted.  The 
patent  was  delivered  to  a  committee  of  four,  by  whom  it 
was  to  be  kept  safely  and  secretly  for  the  country.  To  guard 
against  danger  from  an  armed  force,  officers  and  soldiers  were 
forbidden  to  land  from  ships,  except  in  small  parties ;  and 
strict  obedience  to  the  laws  of   Massachusetts  was  required 


872    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  it. 

from  them.  The  train-bands  were  reviewed;  the  command 
of  the  castle  at  the  entrance  of  Boston  harbor  was  confided  to 
the  trustworthy  officer  Davenport.  A  dav  of  fasting  and 
prayer  was  appointed.  In  that  age  of  religious  faith,  every 
person  but  the  sick  was  required  to  attend  public  worship ; 
the  mother  took  with  her  the  nursling  whom  she  could  not 
leave.  To  appoint  a  day  of  fasting  on  a  special  occasion  was 
to  call  together,  in  their  respective  assemblies,  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  colony,  and,  under  divine  sanction,  to  direct  the 
attention  of  them  all  at  one  and  the  same  time  to  a  single 
subject.  No  mode  of  diffusing  intelligence  could  equal  this, 
which  reached  every  one's  ear. 

In  July,  the  fleet,  equipped  for  the  reduction  of  the  Dutch 
settlements  on  the  Hudson,  arrived  at  Boston,  bearing  com- 
missioners nominated  by  the  duke  of  York  and  hostile  to  colo- 
nial liberties.  "  The  main  end  and  drift "  of  their  appointment 
was  to  gain  "a  good  footing  and  foundation  for  a  further 
advance  "  of  English  power,  by  leading  the  people  to  submit 
to  alterations  in  their  charter ;  especially  to  yield  up  to  the 
king  the  nomination  or  approbation  of  the  governor,  and  the 
chief  command  of  the  militia.  This  instruction  was  secret ; 
but  it  was  known  that  they  were  charged  to  investigate  the 
manner  in  which  the  charters  of  New  England  had  been  exer- 
cised, "with  full  authority  to  provide  for  the  peace  of  the 
country,  according  to  the  royal  instructions  and  their  own 
discretion."  No  exertion  of  power  was  immediately  at- 
tempted ;  but  the  people  of  Massachusetts  descried  the  ap- 
proach of  tyranny,  and  their  general  court  assembled  to  meet 
the  danger. 

It  was  agreed  to  levy  two  hundred  men  for  the  expected 
war  against  the  Dutch,  although  no  requisition  for  their  ser- 
vices had  been  made.  But  the  commission  was  considered  a 
flagrant'  violation  of  chartered  rights.  In  regard  to  the  obedi- 
ence due  to  a  government,  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts 
distinguished  between  natural  obedience  and  voluntary  sub- 
jection. The  child  born  on  the  soil  of  England  is  necessarily 
an  English  subject ;  but  they  held  that,  by  the  original  right 
of  expatriation,  every  man  may  withdraw  from  the  land  of 
his  birth,  and  renounce  all  duty  of  allegiance  with  all  claim 


1664.  MASSACHUSETTS  AND   CHARLES  II.  a73 

to  protection.  This  they  had  done.  Remaining  in  England, 
the  J  acknowledged  the  obligatory  force  of  established  laws ; 
because  those  laws  were  intolerable,  they  had  emigrated  to  a 
new  world,  where  they  could  all  have  organized  their  govern- 
ment, as  many  of  them  originally  did,  on  the  basis  of  natural 
rights  and  of  perfect  independence. 

It  had  seemed  good  to  them  to  retain  their  connection 
with  England;  but  this  connection  they  held  to  be  purely 
voluntary;  originally  established  and  exclusively  defined  by 
the  charter,  which  was  the  only  existing  compact  connecting 
them  with  England.  The  right  of  England  to  .the  soil,  under 
the  pretence  of  discovery,  they  derided  as  a  popish  doctrine, 
derived  from  Alexander  YI. ;  and  they  pleaded,  as  of  more 
avail,  their  just  occupation  and  their  purchase  from  the  na- 
tives. 

As  the  establishment  of  a  commission  with  discretionary 
powers  was  not  specially  sanctioned  by  their  charter,  they 
resolved  to  resist  the  orders  of  the  king,  and  nullify  his  com- 
mission. While,  therefore,  the  fleet  was  engaged  in  reducing 
New  York,  Massachusetts,  in  September,  published  an  order 
prohibiting  complaints  to  the  commissioners ;  and,  preparing 
a  remonstrance,  not  against  deeds  of  tyranny  but  the  menace 
of  tyranny,  not  against  actual  wrong  but  against  a  principle 
of  wrong,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  October  it  thus  addressed 
King  Charles  11. : 

"  Dread  Sovereign  :  The  first  undertakers  of  this  plan- 
tation did  obtain  a  patent,  wherein  is  granted  full  and  abso- 
lute power  of  governing  all  the  people  of  this  place,  by  men 
chosen  from  among  themselves,  and  according  to  such  laws 
as  they  should  see  meet  to  establish.  A  royal  donation,  under 
the  great  seal,  is  the  greatest  security  that  may  be  had  in 
human  affairs.  Under  the  encouragement  and  security  of 
the  royal  charter,  this  people  did,  at  their  own  charges,  trans- 
port themselves,  their  wives  and  families,  over  the  ocean, 
purchase  the  land  of  the  natives,  and  plant  this  colony,  with 
great  labor,  hazards,  cost,  and  difficulties ;  for  a  long  time 
wrestling  with  the  wants  of  a  wilderness  and  the  burdens  of 
a  new  plantation  ;  having  also  now  above  thirty  years  enjoyed 
the  privilege  of  government  within  themselves,  as  their  un- 


374    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  iv. 

doubted  right  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man.  To  be  governed 
bj  rulers  of  our  own  choosing  and  lawes  of  our  own,  is  the 
fundamental  privilege  of  our  patent. 

"  A  commission  under  the  great  seal,  wherein  four  persons 
(one  of  them  our  professed  enemy)  are  impowered  to  receive 
and  determine  all  complaints  and  appeals  according  to  their 
discretion,  subjects  us  to  the  arbitrary  power  of  strangers,  and 
will  end  in  the  subversion  of  our  all. 

"  If  these  things  go  on,  your  subjects  here  will  either  be 
forced  to  seeke  new  dwellings  or  sink  under  intolerable  bur- 
dens. The  vigor  of  all  new  endeavors  will  be  enfeebled  ;  the 
king  himself  will  be  a  loser  of  the  wonted  benefit  by  customs, 
exported  and  imported  from  hence  into  England,  and  this 
hopeful  plantation  will  in  the  issue  be  ruined. 

"  If  the  aime  should  be  to  gratify  some  particular  gentle- 
men by  livings  and  revenues  here,  that  will  also  fail,  for  the 
poverty  of  the  people.  If  all  the  charges  of  the  whole  gov- 
ernment by  the  year  were  put  together,  and  then  doubled  or 
trebled,  it  would  not  be  counted  for  one  of  those  gentlemen 
a  considerable  accommodation.  To  a  coalition  in  this  course 
the  people  will  never  come ;  and  it  wdll  be  hard  to  find  an- 
other people  that  will  stand  under  any  considerable  burden  in 
this  country,  seeing  it  is  not  a  country  where  men  can  subsist 
without  hard  labor  and  great  frugality. 

"  God  knows  our  greatest  ambition  is  to  live  a  quiet  life, 
in  a  corner  of  the  world.  We  came  not  into  this  wildemesse 
to  seek  great  things  to  ourselves ;  and,  if  any  come  after  us  to 
seeke  them  heere,  they  will  be  disappointed.  We  keep  our- 
selves within  our  line ;  a  just  dependence  upon,  and  subjec- 
tion to,  your  majestic,  according  to  our  charter,  it  is  far  from 
our  hearts  to  disacknowledge.  We  would  gladly  do  anything 
within  our  power  to  purchase  the  continuance  of  your  favor- 
able aspect.  But  it  is  a  great  unhappiness  to  have  no  testi- 
mony of  our  loyalty  offered  but  this,  to  yield  up  our  liberties, 
which  are  far  dearer  to  us  than  our  lives,  and  which  we  have 
willingly  ventured  our  lives  and  passed  through  many  deaths 
to  obtain. 

"  It  was  Job's  excellency,  when  he  sat  as  king  among  his 
people,  that  he  was  a  father  to  the  poor.     A  poor  people, 


1664-1665.       MASSACHUSETTS  AND   CHARLES  II.  375 

destitute  of  outward  favor,  wealth,  and  power,  now  cry  unto 
their  lord  the  king.  May  your  majestie  regard  their  cause, 
and  maintain  their  right ;  it  will  stand  among  the  marks  of 
lasting  honor  to  after  generations." 

The  spirit  of  the  people  corresponded  with  this  address. 
Did  any  appear  to  pay  court  to  the  commissioners,  they  be- 
came objects  of  derision.  Even  the  writing  to  the  king  and 
chancellor  w^as  not  held  to  be  a  duty;  the  compact  by  the 
charter  required  only  the  payment  to  the  king  of  one  fifth 
of  all  gold  and  silver  ore ;  this  was  an  obligation ;  any  notice 
of  the  king  beyond  this  was  only  by  way  of  civility.  It  was 
also  hoped  to  weary  the  English  government  by  a  tedious 
correspondence,  which  might  be  continued  till  the  new  revo- 
lution, of  which  they  foreboded  the  approach.  It  is  some- 
times difficult  to  distinguish  the  instinct  of  fanaticism  from 
the  soundest  judgment ;  sometimes  fanaticism  has  the  keenest 
sagacity.  There  were  many  in  New  England  who  confidently 
expected  a  revival  of  liberty  after  the  restoration,  and  what 
was  called  "  the  slaying  of  the  witnesses."  "  Who  knows," 
it  was  asked,  ''  what  the  event  of  this  Dutch  war  will  be  ? " 
The  establishment  of  arbitrary  power  w^ould  bring  in  its  train 
arbitrary  taxation  for  the  advantage  of  greedy  courtiers.  A 
report  w^as  spread  that  Massachusetts  was  to  yield  a  revenue 
of  ^ve  thousand  pounds  yearly  for  the  king.  Public  meetings 
of  the  people  were  held ;  the  brave  and  liberal  Hawthorne,  at 
the  head  of  a  company  of  train-bands,  made  a  speech  which 
royalists  deemed  "seditious;"  and  Endecott,  of  whom  Charles 
II.  had  written  to  the  colony  as  of  a  person  not  well  affected,, 
just  as  the  last  sands  of  life  were  running  out,  addressed  the 
people  at  their  meeting-house  in  Boston.  The  aged  Daven- 
port was  equally  unbending.  ''The  commission,"  said  he 
from  New  Haven,  "  is  but  a  tryal  of  our  courage ;  the  Lord 
will  be  with  his  people  while  they  are  with  him.  If  you  con- 
sent to  this  court  of  appeals,  you  pluck  down  with  your  own 
hands  the  house  w^hich  wisdom  has  built  for  you  and  your 
posterity." 

In  the  elections,  in  the  spring  of  1665,  the  people  sustained 
their  government.  Richard  Bellingham,  late  deputy  governor, 
the  unbending,  faithful  old  man,  skilled  from  his  youth  in 


376    BEITISH   AMERICA   FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  ch.  iv. 

English  law,  perhaps  the  draughtsman  of  the  charter,  certainly 
familiar  with  it  from  its  beginning,  was  chosen  to  succeed  En- 
decott.  Meantime,  letters  of  entreaty  had  been  sent  to  Robert 
Boyle  and  the  earl  of  Manchester ;  for,  from  the  days  of  South- 
ampton and  Sandys,  of  Warwick  and  Say,  to  those  of  Burke 
and  Chatham,  America  was  not  destitute  of  friends  in  England. 
But  none  of  them  would  perceive  the  reasonableness  of  com- 
plaining against  an  abstract  principle.  "  We  are  all  amazed," 
wrote  Clarendon,  who  was  no  enemy  to  Massachusetts ;  "  you 
demand  a  revocation  of  the  commission,  without  charging  the 
commissioners  with  the  least  matter  of  crymes  or  exorbitances." 
The  statesmen  of  that  day  in  Massachusetts  understood  the 
doctrine  of  liberty  better  than  the  chancellor  of  England.  A 
century  later,  and  there  were  none  in  England  who  did  not 
esteem  the  commission  an  unconstitutional  usurpation. 

To  Connecticut,  the  controversy  with  Massachusetts  was 
fraught  with  benefits.  The  commissioners,  desirous  to  make 
friends  in  the  other  colonies,  gave  no  countenance  to  a  claim 
advanced  by  the  duke  of  Hamilton  to  a  large  part  of  its  terri- 
tory, and,  in  arranging  th^  limits  of  New  York,  though  the 
charter  of  Clarendon's  son-in-law  extended  to  the  river  Con- 
necticut, they  established  the  boundary,  on  the  main,  in  con- 
formity with  the  claims  of  Connecticut  itself.  Long  Island 
went  to  the  duke  of  York.  Satisfied  with  the  harmony  which 
they  had  secured  by  attempting  nothing  but  for  the  interests 
of  the  colony,  they  saw  fit  to  praise  to  the  monarch  "  the  duti- 
fulness  and  obedience  of  Connecticut,"  which  was  "set  off 
.with  the  more  lustre  by  the  contrary  deportment  of  Massachu- 
setts." 

We  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  narrate  the  events  in  which 
Mcolls  was  engaged  at  New  York,  where  he  remained.  In 
February,  1665,  Carr,  Cartwright,  and  Maverick,  the  other 
commissioners,  returning  to  Massachusetts,  desired  that,  at  the 
next  general  election  day,  the  whole  male  population  might  be 
assembled  in  Boston,  to  hear  the  message  from  the  king.  The 
proposal  was  rejected.  "  He  that  will  not  attend  to  the  re- 
quest," said  Cartwright,  "  is  a  traitor." 

The  nature  of  the  government  of  Rhode  Island,  and  its 
habitual  policy  of  relying  on  England  for  protection,  secured 


1665.  MASSACHUSETTS  AND   CHARLES  II.  377 

tx)  the  royal  agents  in  that  province  a  less  unfavorable  recep- 
tion. Plymouth,  the  weakest  colony  of  all,  too  poor  to  "  main- 
tain scholars  to  their  ministers,"  but  in  some  places  making 
use  of  "  a  guif ted  brother,"  stood  firm  for  independence,  al- 
though the  long-cherished  hopes  of  the  inhabitants  were  flat- 
tered by  the  promise  of  a  charter,  if  they  would  but  allow  the 
king  to  select  their  governor  from  among  three  candidates, 
whom  they  themselves  should  nominate.  The  general  assem- 
bly, after  due  consideration,  "  with  many  thanks,  and  great 
protestations  of  loyalty  to  the  king,"  "chose  to  be  as  they 
were." 

In  Massachusetts,  the  conference  between  the  two  parties 
degenerated  into  an  altercation.  "  It  is  insufferable,"  said  its 
government,  "that  the  colony  should  be  brought  to  the  bar 
of  a  tribunal  unknown  to  its  charter."  In  May,  the  royal 
commissioners  asked  categorically :  "  Do  you  acknowledge  his 
majesty's  commission  ?  "  The  colony  declined  giving  a  direct 
answer,  and  chose  rather  to  plead  his  majesty's  patent. 

Tired  of  discussion,  the  commissioners  declared  their  inten- 
tion of  holding  a  court  to  decide  a  cause  in  which  the  colony 
was  cited  to  appear  as  defendant.  The  general  court  of  the 
colony  forbade  them  to  proceed.  On  the  twenty-third  of 
May,  the  morning  fixed  for  the  trial,  they  were  preparing  to 
go  on  with  the  cause,  when  a  herald  stepped  forth,  and,  hav- 
ing sounded  a  trumpet,  made  proclamation  in  the  name  of  the 
king  and  by  authority  of  the  charter,  that  the  general  court  of 
Massachusetts,  in  observance  of  their  duty  to  God,  to  the 
king,  and  to  their  constituents,  could  not  suffer  any  to  abet 
his  majesty's  honorable  commissioners  in  their  designs. 

The  herald  sounded  the  trumpet  in  three  several  places,  re- 
peating his  proclamation.  We  may  smile  at  this  ceremony ; 
yet  when  had  the  voice  of  a  herald  proclaimed  the  approach 
of  so  momentous  a  contest  ?  It  was  the  dawning  strife  of  the 
new  system  against  the  old  system,  of  American  politics  against 
European  politics.  , 

The  commissioners  could  only  wonder  that  the  arguments 
of  the  king,  his  chancellor,  and  his  secretary,  did  not  convince 
the  government  of  Massachusetts.  "  Since  you  will  miscon- 
Gtrue  our  endeavors,"  said  they,  "  we  shall  not  lose  more  of 

VOL.  I.— 26 


V 


378     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  ly. 

our  labors  upon  you;"  and  so  they  retreated  to  the  north. 
There  they  endeavored  to  inquire  into  the  bounds  of  'New 
Hampshire  and  Maine,  and  to  prepare  for  the  restoration  of 
"'  proprietary  claims  ;  but  Massachusetts  was  again  equally  active 
ind  fearless ;  its  governor  and  council  forbade  the  towns  on 
the  Piscataqua  to  meet,  or  in  anything  to  obey  the  commission, 
at  their  utmost  peril. 

On  the  first  of  August,  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts, 
as  petitioners,  thus  addressed  their  complaints  to  the  king: 
"  Your  poor  subjects  are  threatened  with  ruin,  reproached  with 
the  name  of  rebels,  and  your  government,  established  by  char- 
ter, and  oui'  privileges,  are  violated  and  undermined ;  some  of 
your  faithful  subjects  dispossessed  of  their  lands  and  goods 
without  hearing  them  speak  in  their  cases ;  the  unity  of  the 
English  colonies,  which  is  the  wall  and  bulwark  under  God 
against  the  heathen,  discountenanced,  reproached,  and  under- 
mined ;  our  bounds  and  limits  clipped  and  shortened.  A  just 
dependence  upon  and  allegiance  unto  your  majesty,  according 
to  the  charter,  we  have,  and  do  profess  and  practice,  and  have 
by  our  oaths  of  allegiance  to  your  majesty  confirmed ;  but  to 
be  placed  upon  the  sandy  foundations  of  a  blind  obedience 
unto  that  arbitrary,  absolute,  and  unlimited  power  which 
these  gentlemen  would  impose  upon  us,  who  in  their  actings 
have  carried  it  not  as  indifferent  persons  toward  us,  this  as  it 
is  contrary  to  your  majesty's  gracious  expressions  and  the 
liberties  of  Englishmen,  so  we  can  see  no  reason  to  submit 
thereto." 

In  Maine,  the  temper  of  the  people  was  more  favorable  to 
royalty ;  they  preferred  the  immediate  protection  of  the  king 
to  an  incorporation  with  Massachusetts,  or  a  subjection  to  the 
heir  of  Gorges ;  and  the  commissioners,  setting  aside  the  ofii- 
cers  appointed  by  Massachusetts  and  neglecting  the  pretensions 
of  Gorges,  issued  commissions  to  persons  of  their  selection  to 
govern  the  district.  There  were  not  wanting  those  who,  in 
spite  of  threats,  openly  expressed  fears  of  "  the  sad  conten- 
tions "  that  would  follow,  and  acknowledged  that  their  connec- 
tion with  Massachusetts  had  been  favorable  to  their  prosperity. 
In  the  country  beyond  the  Kennebec,  which  had  been  recently 
granted  to  the  duke  of  York  as  a  province,  the  commissioners 


1665-1668.       MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CHARLES  II.  379 

instituted  a  government  in  liis  name  over  the  few  and  scat- 
tered inhabitants ;  and,  when  they  were  recalled,  they  retired 
in  angry  petulance,  threatening  the  disloyal  in  New  England 
with  retribution  and  the  gallows. 

The  frowardness  of  Massachusetts  was  visited  by  reproofs 
from  the  English  monarch,  to  whom  it  was  well  known  that 
"  the  people  of  that  colony  affirmed  his  majesty  had  no  juris- 
diction over  them."  It  was  resolved  to  transfer  the  scene  of 
negotiations.  By  a  royal  mandate  of  April,  1666,  Bellingham 
and  Hawthorne  were  commanded,  on  their  allegiance,  to  repair 
to  England,  with  two  or  three  others,  whom  the  magistrates 
of  Massachusetts  were  to  appoint  as  their  colleagues.  Till  the 
final  decision  of  the  claims  of  Gorges,  the  government  of 
Maine  was  to  continue  as  instituted  by  the  commissioners. 

It  belonged  to  the  general  court  to  execute  such  commands 
as  exceeded  the  powers  of  the  magistrates  ;  it  was  therefore 
convened  to  consider  the  letter  from  the  king.  The  morning 
of  the  second  day  was  spent  in  prayer;  six  elders  prayed. 
The  next  day,  after  a  lecture,  some  debate  was  had  ;  and  peti- 
tions, proposing  compliance  with  the  king,  were  forwarded 
from  Boston,  Salem,  Ipswich,  and  Newbury.  "  Let  some 
regular  way  be  propounded  for  the  debate,"  said  Bellingham, 
the  governor.  "  The  king's  prerogative  gives  him  power  to 
command  our  appearance,"  said  the  moderate  Bradstreet ; 
"  before  God  and  men  we  are  to  obey."  "  You  may  have  a 
trial  at  law,"  insinuated  an  artful  royalist ;  "  when  you  come 
to  England,  you  may  insist  upon  it  and  claim  it."  "  We 
must  as  well  consider  God's  displeasure  as  the  king's,"  re- 
torted Willoughby ;  "  the  interest  of  ourselves  and  of  God's 
things,  as  his  majesty's  prerogative  ;  for  our  liberties  are  of 
concernment,  and  to  be  regarded  as  to  the  preservation  ;  for 
if  the  king  may  send  for  me  now,  and  another  to-morrow, 
we  are  a  miserable  people."  "  Prerogative  is  as  necessary  as 
law,"  rejoined  the  royalist.  "  Prerogative  is  not  above  law," 
retorted  Hawthorne.  After  much  argument,  obedience  was 
refused.  "  We  have  already,"  such  was  the  reply  of  the 
general  court,  "  furnished  our  views  in  writing,  so  that  the 
ablest  persons  among  us  could  not  declare  our  case  more  fully." 

This  decision  of  disobedience  was  made  at  a  time  when 


380    BEITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  iv. 

Louis  XIY.  of  France,  eager  to  grasp  at  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands, and  united  with  De  Witt  by  a  treaty  of  partition,  had, 
in  consequence  of  his  Dutch  alliance,  declared  war  against 
England.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  conquest  of  Canada 
was  first  distinctly  proposed  to  E"ew  England ;  but  "  a  land 
march  of  foar  hundred  miles,  over  rocky  mountains  and  howl- 
ing deserts,"  was  too  terrible  an  obstacle.  Boston  equipped 
privateers,  and  not  without  success. 

At  the  same  time,  Massachusetts  sent  provisions  to  the 
English  fleet  in  the  West  Indies ;  and,  to  the  navy  in  England, 
a  ship-load  of  masts  ;  "  a  blessing,  mighty  unexpected,  and  but 
for  which,"  adds  Pepys,  "  we  must  have  failed  the  next  year." 

Secure  in  the  support  of  a  resolute  minority,  the  Puritan 
commonwealth,  in  1668,  entered  the  province  of  Maine,  and 
re-established  its  authority  by  force  of  arms.  Great  tumults 
ensued ;  many  persons,  opposed  to  what  seemed  a  usurpation, 
were  punished  for  "  irreverent  speeches ; "  some  even  re- 
proached the  authorities  of  Massachusetts  "as  traitors  and 
rebels  against  the  king ; "  but,  from  the  southern  limit  of 
Massachusetts  to  the  Kennebec,  the  colonial  government  main- 
tained its  independent  jurisdiction  till  Gorges  recovered  his 
claims  by  adjudication  in  England. 

The  defiance  of  Massachusetts  was  not  followed  by  imme- 
diate danger.  Clarendon  was  in  exile.  The  board  of  trade, 
projected  in  1668,  never  assumed  the  administration  of  colonial 
affairs,  and  had  not  vitality  enough  to  last  more  than  three  or 
four  years  ;  profligate  libertines  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
king's  miotresses,  and  places  in  the  royal  cabinet.  While 
Charles  II.  was  dallying  with  women  and  robbing  the  theatre 
of  actresses ;  while  Buckingham,  who  had  succeeded  in  dis- 
placing Clarendon,  wasted  the  vigor  of  his  mind  and  body  by 
indulging  in  every  sensual  pleasure  "  which  nature  could  de- 
sire or  wit  invent ; "  while  Louis  XIY.  was  bribing  the  mis- 
tress of  the  chief  of  the  king's  cabal — England  remained  with- 
out a  good  government,  and  the  colonies  flourished  in  purity 
and  peace.  The  affairs  of  IN^ew  England  were  often  discussed  ; 
but  the  privy  council  was  overawed  by  the  moral  dignity  which 
they  could  not  comprehend.  There  were  great  debates,  in 
which  the  king  took  part,  "  in  what  style  to  write  to  New  Eng- 


1668-1671.       MASSACHUSETTS  AND   CHARLES  II.  381 

land."  Charles  himself  commended  this  affair  more  expressly, 
because  "  the  colony  was  rich  and  strong,  able  to  contest  with  all 
other  plantations  about  them  ; "  "  there  is  fear,"  said  the  mon- 
arch, in  May,  1671, ''  of  their  breaking  from  all  dependence  on 
this  nation."  "  Some  of  the  council  proposed  a  menacing  let- 
ter, which  those  who  better  understood  the  peevish  and  touchy 
humor  of  that  colonic  were  utterly  against."  After  many 
days,  it  was  concluded  "  that,  if  any,  it  should  be  only  a  con- 
ciliating paper  at  first,  or  civil  letter ;  for  it  was  understood 
they  were  a  people  almost  upon  the  very  brink  of  renouncing 
any  dependence  upon  the  crown."  "  Information  of  the  pres- 
ent face  of  things  was  desired,"  and  Cartwright,  one  of  the 
commissioners,  was  summoned  before  the  council  to  give  "  a 
relation  of  that  country ; "  but,  such  was  the  picture  that  he 
drew,  the  council  were  more  intimidated  than  ever,  so  that 
nothing  was  recommended  beyond  "  a  letter  of  amnesty."  By 
degrees,  it  was  proposed  to  send  a  deputy  to  'New  England, 
under  the  pretext  of  adjusting  boundaries,  but  "  with  secret 
instructions  to  inform  the  council  of  the  condition  of  New 
England  ;  and  whether  they  were  of  such  power  as  to  be  able 
to  resist  his  majesty  and  declare  for  themselves,  as  independent 
of  the  crown."  Their  strength  was  reported  to  be  the  cause 
"  which  of  late  years  made  them  refractory."  But  the  king 
was  taken  up  by  "  the  childish,  simple,  and  baby  face  "  of  a 
new  favorite  and  his  traffic  of  the  honor  and  independence  of 
England  to  the  king  of  France.  The  duke  of  Buckingham, 
now  in  mighty  favor,  was  revelling  with  a  luxurious  and 
abandoned  rout ;  and,  for  the  moment,  the  discussions  at  the 
council  about  New  England  w^re  fruitless. 


382     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  16C0  TO   1688.    pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  t. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

NEW   ENGLAND   AND   ITS  RED   MEN. 

Colonies  were  valued  in  proportion  as  their  products  dif- 
fered from  those  of  the  parent  country.  "Massachusetts," 
said  Sir  Joshua  Child,  in  his  discourse  on  trade,  "  is  the  most 
prejudicial  plantation  of  Great  Britain ;  the  frugality,  indus- 
try, and  temperance  of  its  people,  and  the  happiness  of  their 
laws  and  institutions,  promise  them  long  life,  and  a  wonder- 
ful increase  of  people,  riches,  and  power."  It  paid  no  regard 
to  the  acts  of  navigation.  With  a  jurisdiction  stretching  to 
the  Kennebec,  it  possessed  a  widely  extended  trade ;  acting  as 
a  carrier  for  other  English  colonies,  and  sending  ships  into  the 
most  various  climes.  Boston  harbor  was  open  to  vessels  from 
Spain  and  Italy,  from  France  and  Holland.  Commerce 
brought  wealth  to  the  colonists,  and  they  employed  it  liber- 
ally ;  after  the  great  fire  in  London,  they  sent  large  contribu- 
tions to  the  sufferers. 

Beggary  was  unknown  ;  theft  was  rare.  If  "  strange  new 
fashions  "  prevailed  among  "  the  younger  sort  of  women,"  if 
"  superfluous  ribbons  "  decorated  their  apparel,  at  least  "  mu- 
sicians by  trade  and  dancing-schools  "  were  not  fostered.  In 
spite  of  the  increasing  spirit  of  inquiry  and  toleration,  the 
Congregational  churches  were  upheld  "in  their  purest  and 
most  athletick  constitution."     Affluence  was  uninterrupted. 

This  increase  of  the  English  alarmed  the  red  men,  who 
could  not  change  their  habits,  and  who  saw  themselves  de- 
prived of  their  ancient  resources.  It  is  difficult  to  form 
exact  opinions  on  the  population  of  the  several  colonies  in 
this  early  period ;  the  colonial  accounts  are  incomplete  ;  and 
those  which  were  furnished  by  emissaries  from  England  are 


1675.  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  RED  MEN.  383 

extravagantly  false.  No  great  error  will  be  committed  if  we 
suppose  the  white  population  of  New  England,  in  16Y5,  to 
have  been  fifty-five  thousand  souls.  Of  these,  Plymouth  may 
have  contained  not  many  less  than  seven  thousand ;  Connecti- 
cut, nearly  fourteen  thousand ;  Massachusetts  proper,  more 
than  twenty-two  thousand;  and  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Rhode  Island,  each  perhaps  four  'thousand.  The  settlements 
near  the  sea-side  reached  from  New  Haven  to  Pemaquid. 
The  beaver  trade,  even  more  than  trafiSc  in  lumber  and  fish, 
created  the  villages  beyond  the  Piscataqua ;  yet  in  Maine,  as 
in  New  Hampshire,  there  was  ^'  a  great  trade  in  deal-boards ; " 
and  the  rivers  were  made  to  drive  ''  the  saw-mills,"  then  de- 
scribed as  a  "  late  invention."  Haverhill,  on  the  Merrimack, 
was  a  frontier  town;  from  Connecticut,  emigrants  had  as- 
cended as  far  as  the  rich  meadows  of  Deerfield  and  North- 
field  ;  but  Berkshire  was  a  wilderness ;  Westfield  was  the 
remotest  plantation.  Between  the  towns  on  Connecticut 
river  and  the  compact  towns  near  Massachusetts  bay,  Lancas- 
ter and  Brookfield  were  the  solitary  abodes  of  Christians  in 
the  desert.  The  confederacy  of  the  colonies  had  been  re- 
newed, in  anticipation  of  dangers. 

The  number  of  the  red  men  of  that  day  hardly  amounted 
to  thirty  thousand  in  all  New  England  west  of  the  St.  Croix. 
Of  these,  perhaps  about  five  thousand  dwelt  in  the  territory 
of  Maine ;  New  Hampshire  may  have  hardly  contained  three 
thousand  ;  and  Massachusetts,  with  Plymouth,  never  from  the 
first  peopled  by  many  of  them,  seems  to  have  had  less  than 
eight  thousand.  In  Connecticut  and  Phode  Island,  never  de- 
populated by  wasting  sickness,  the  Mohegans,  the  Narragan- 
setts,  the  Pokanokets,  and  kindred  tribes,  had  multiplied  their 
villages  along  the  sea,  the  inlets,  and  the  larger  ponds,  which 
added  fish  to  their  scanty  supplies.  Yet  the  exaggerated  esti- 
mates of  their  numbers  melt  away  when  subjected  to  criti- 
cism. In  Connecticut,  there  may  have  been  two  thousand 
able-bodied  red  men ;  the  Narragansetts,  like  so  many  other 
tribes,  boasted  of  their  former  grandeur,  but  they  could  not 
bring  into  action  a  thousand  bowmen.  "West  of  the  Piscata- 
qua there  were  probably  about  fifty  thousand  whites  and 
hardly  twenty -five  thousand  Indians ;  while,  east  of  it,  there 


384     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  v. 

were  about  four  thousand  whites,  and  perhaps  more  than  that 
number  of  red  men. 

The  ministers  of  the  earlj  emigration  were  fired  with  zeal 
to  redeem  these  "  wrecks  of  humanity,"  and  gather  them 
into  civilized  villages. 

'No  pains  were  spared  to  teach  them  to  read  and  write ; 
and,  in  a  short  time,  a  larger  proportion  of  the  Massachusetts 
Indians  could  do  so  than  recently  of  the  inhabitants  of  Rus- 
sia. Some  of  them  spoke  and  wrote  English  quite  well.  The 
morning  star  of  missionary  enterprise  was  John  Eliot,  whose 
character  shone  with  the  purest  lustre  of  disinterested  love. 
An  Indian  grammar  was  a  pledge  of  his  earnestness;  the 
pledge  was  redeemed  by  his  preparing  and  publishing  a  trans- 
lation of  the  whole  Bible  into  the  Massachusetts  dialect. 

He  lived  with  the  red  men ;  spoke  to  them  of  God  and 
of  the  soul,  and  explained  the  virtues  of  self-denial.  He 
became  their  law-giver.  He  taught  the  women  to  spin,  the 
men  to  dig  the  ground ;  he  established  for  them  simple  forms 
of  government ;  and,  in  spite  of  menaces  from  their  priests 
and  chieftains,  he  instructed  them  in  his  own  religious  faith, 
and  not  without  success.  Groups  of  them  used  to  gather 
round  him  as  round  a  father,  and  often  perplexed  him  with 
their  doubts.  "What  is  a  spirit?"  asked  the  Indians  of 
Massachusetts  of  their  apostle.  "  Can  the  soul  be  enclosed  in 
iron  so  that  it  cannot  escape  ?  "  "  When  Christ  arose,  whence 
came  his  soul  ? "  Every  clan  had  some  vague  conceptions 
of  immortality  of  its  own.  "  Shall  I  know  you  in  heaven  ? " 
inquired  a  red  man.  "  Our  little  children  have  not  sinned ; 
when  they  die,  whither  do  they  go  ? "  "  When  such  die  as 
never  heard  of  Christ,  where  do  they  go  ? "  "  Do  they  in 
heaven  dwell  in  houses,  and  what  do  they  do  ? "  "  Do  they 
know  things  done  here  on  earth  ? "  The  origin  of  moral  evil 
has  engaged  the  minds  of  the  most  subtle.  "  Why,"  demanded 
the  natives  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles,  "  why  did  not  God 
give  all  men  good  hearts  ? "  "  Since  God  is  all-powerful,  why 
did  not  God  kill  the  devil,  that  made  men  so  bad  ?  "  Of  them- 
selves they  fell  into  the  mazes  of  fixed  decrees  and  free-will. 
^'Doth  God  know  who  shall  repent  and  believe,  and  who 
not  ?  "     The  ballot-box  was  to  them  a  mystery.     "  When  you 


1675.  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  RED  MEN.  885 

clioose  magistrates,  how  do  you  know  who  are  good  men, 
whom  you  dare  trust  ? "  And  again :  "  If  a  man  be  wise,  and 
his  sachem  weak,  must  he  yet  obey  him  ? "  Eliot  preached 
against  polygamy.  "  Suppose  a  man,  before  he  knew  God," 
inquired  a  convert,  "  hath  had  two  wives,  the  first  childless, 
the  second  bearing  him  many  sweet  children,  whom  he  exceed- 
ingly loves,  which  of  these  two  wives  is  he  to  put  away?" 
And  the  case  was  put  to  the  pure-minded  Eliot,  among  the 
wigwams  of  Konantum  :  "  Suppose  a  squaw  desert  and  flee 
from  her  husband,  and  live  with  another  distant  Indian,  till, 
hearing  the  word,  she  repents,  and  desires  to  come  again  to 
her  husband,  who  remains  still  unmarried :  shall  the  husband, 
upon  her  repentance,  receive  her  again  ?  "  The  poet  of  civil- 
ization tells  us  that  happiness  is  the  end  of  our  being.  "  How 
shall  I  find  happiness  ? "  demanded  the  savage.  And  Eliot 
was  never  tired  by  this  importunity  or  by  the  hereditary  idle- 
ness of  the  race  ;  and  his  simplicity  of  life  and  manners  won 
for  him  all  hearts,  whether  in  the  villages  of  the  emigrants  or 
"  the  smoaky  cells  "  of  the  natives. 

In  the  islands  round  Massachusetts,  and  within  the  limits 
of  the  Plymouth  patent,  "  that  young  New  England  scholar," 
the  gentle  Mayhew,  forgetting  the  pride  of  learning,  endeav- 
ored to  convert  the  natives.  At  a  later  day,  he  took  passage 
for  England  to  awaken  interest  in  his  mission,  and  the  ship  in 
which  he  sailed  was  never  more  heard  of.  But,  such  had  been 
the  force  of  his  example,  that  his  father,  though  bowed  down 
by  the  weight  of  seventy  years,  assumed  toward  the  red  men 
the  ofiice  of  the  son  whom  he  had  lost,  and,  though  he  de- 
clined to  become  the  pastor  of  their  regularly  organized 
church,  he  continued  his  zeal  for  them  till  beyond  the  age  of 
fourscore  years  and  twelve,  and  with  the  happiest  results. 
The  Indians  of  the  Elizabeth  isles,  though  twenty  times  more 
numerous  than  the  whites  in  their  immediate  neighborhood, 
preserved  an  immutable  friendship  with  Massachusetts. 

Churches  of  "  praying  Indians  "  were  gathered ;  at  Cam- 
bridge, an  Indian  became  a  bachelor  of  arts.  Yet  Christian- 
ity hardly  spread  beyond  the  Indians  on  Cape  Cod,  Martha's 
Vineyard,  and  Nantucket,  and  the  seven  feeble  villages  round 
Boston.     The  Narragansetts,  hemmed  in  between  Connecticut 


386      BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  v. 

and  Plymouth,  restless  and  jealous,  retained  tlieir  old  belief ; 
and  Philip  of  Pokanoket,  at  the  head  of  seven  hundred  war- 
riors, professed  with  pride  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 

But  he  and  the  tribes  that  owned  his  influence  were  now 
shut  in  by  the  gathering  plantations  of  the  English,  and  were 
the  first  to  forebode  the  danger  of  extermination.  True,  the 
inhabitants  of  J^ew  England  had  never,  except  in  the  territory 
of  the  Pequods,  taken  possession  of  a  foot  of  land  without  first 
obtaining  a  title  from  the  Indians.  But  the  unlettered  savage, 
who  repented  the  alienation  of  vast  tracts  by  affixing  a  shape- 
less mark  to  a  bond,  might  deem  the  English  tenure  defeasible. 
Again,  by  repeated  treaties,  the  red  man  had  acknowledged 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  English,  who  claimed  a  guardianship 
over  him,  and  really  endeavored  in  their  courts,  with  scrupu- 
lous justice,  and  even  with  favor,  to  protect  him  from  fraud 
and  to  avenge  his  wrongs.  But  the  wild  inhabitants  of  the 
woods  or  the  sea-shore  could  not  understand  the  duty  of  alle- 
giance to  an  unknown  sovereign,  or  acknowledge  the  binding 
force  of  a  political  compact ;  crowded  by  hated  neighbors, 
losing  fields  and  hunting-grounds,  and  frequently  summoned 
to  Boston  or  Plymouth  to  reply  to  an  accusation  or  to  explain 
their  purposes,  they  sighed  for  the  forest  freedom  which  was 
their  immemorial  birthright. 

The  clans  within  the  limits  of  the  denser  settlements,  espe- 
cially the  Indian  villages  round  Boston,  were  broken-spirited 
from  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  English.  In  their  rude 
blending  of  new  lessons  with  ancient  superstitions,  in  their 
feeble  imitations  of  the  manners  of  civilization,  in  their  ap- 
peals to  the  charities  of  Europeans,  they  had  quenched  the 
fierce  spirit  of  savage  independence.  They  loved  the  crumbs 
from  the  white  man's  table. 

But  the  Pokanokets  had  always  rejected  the  Christian  faith 
and  Christian  manners,  and  their  chief  had  desired  to  insert 
in  a  treaty,  what  the  Puritans  always  rejected,  that  the  Eng- 
lish should  never  attempt  to  convert  the  warriors  of  his  tribe 
from  the  religion  of  their  race.  The  aged  Massassoit — he  who 
had  welcomed  the  pilgrims  to  the  soil  of  l^ew  England,  and 
had  opened  his  cabin  to  shelter  the  founder  of  Ehode  Island — 
now  slept  with  his  fathers,  and  Philip,  his  son,  had  succeeded 


1675.  NEW  ENGLAND   AND  ITS  RED  MEN.  387 

him  as  head  of  the  allied  tribes.  Repeated  sales  of  land  had 
narrowed  their  domains,  and  the  English  had  artfully  crowded 
them  into  the  tongues  of  land,  as  "  most  suitable  and  conve- 
nient for  them,"  and  as  more  easily  watched.  The  principal 
seats  of  the  Pokanokets  were  the  peninsulas  which  we  now 
call  Bristol  and  Tiverton.  As  the  English  villages  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  to  them,  their  hunting-grounds  were  put  under 
culture,  their  natural  parks  were  turned  into  pastures,  their 
best  fields  for  planting  corn  were  gradually  alienated,  their 
fisheries  were  impaired  by  more  skilful  methods,  till  they  found 
themselves  deprived  of  their  broad  acres,  and,  by  their  own 
legal  contracts,  driven,  as  it  were,  into  the  sea. 

Collisions  and  mutual  distinist  were  the  necessary  conse- 
quence. There  exists  no  evidence  of  a  deliberate  conspiracy 
on  the  part  of  all  the  tribes.  The  commencement  of  war  was 
accidental  ;  many  of  the  Indians  were  in  a  maze,  not  knowing 
what  to  do,  and  disposed  to  stand  for  the  English  ;  sure  proof 
of  no  ripened  conspiracy.  But  they  had  the  same  complaints, 
recollections,  and  fears ;  and,  when  they  met,  they  could  not 
but  grieve  together  at  the  alienation  of  the  domains  of  their 
fathers.  They  spurned  the  English  claim  of  jurisdiction  over 
them,  and  were  indignant  that  Indian  chiefs  or  w\arriors 
should  be  arraigned  before  a  jury.  And,  when  the  language 
of  their  anger  and  sorrow  was  reported  to  the  men  of  Plym- 
outh colony  by  an  Indian  tale-bearer,  fear  professed  to  dis- 
cover in  their  unguarded  words  the  evidence  of  an  organized 
conspiracy. 

The  haughty  Philip,  who  had  once  before  been  com- 
pelled to  surrender  his  "English  arms"  and  pay  an  onerous 
tribute,  was,  in  1674,  summoned  to  submit  to  an  examination, 
and  could  not  escape  suspicion.  The  wrath  of  his  tribe  was 
roused,  and  the  informer  was  murdered.  The  murderers,  in 
their  turn,  were  identified,  seized,  tried  by  a  jury,  of  which 
one  half  were  Indians,  and,  in  June,  1675,  on  conviction,  were 
hanged.  The  young  men  of  the  tribe  panted  for  revenge  : 
without  delay,  eight  or  nine  of  the  English  were  slain  in  or 
about  Swansey,  and  the  alarm  of  war  spread  through  the 
colonies. 

Thus  was  Philip  hurried  into  "  his  rebelKon ; "  and  he  is 


388      BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  y. 

reported  to  have  wept  as  he  heard  that  a  white  man's  blood 
had  been  shed.  He  had  kept  his  men  about  him  in  arms,  and 
had  welcomed  every  stranger ;  and  yet,  against  his  judgment 
and  his  will,  he  was  involved  in  war.  For  what  chances  had 
he  of  success  ?  The  English  were  united ;  the  Indians  had  no 
alliance,  and  half  of  them  joined  the  English,  or  were  quiet 
spectators  of  the  fight :  the  English  had  guns  enough ;  few  of 
the  Indians  were  well  armed,  and  they  could  get  no  new  sup- 
plies :  the  English  had  towns  for  their  shelter  and  safe  retreat ; 
the  miserable  wigwams  of  the  natives  were  defenceless  :  the 
English  had  sure  supplies  of  food ;  the  Indians  might  easily 
lose  their  precarious  stores.  They  rose  without  hope,  and 
they  fought  without  mercy.  For  them  as  a  nation  there  was 
no  to-morrow. 

The  English  were  appalled  at  the  impending  conflict,  and 
superstition  indulged  in  its  wild  inventions.  At  the  time  of 
the  eclipse  of  the  moon,  they  saw  the  figure  of  an  Indian  scalp 
imprinted  on  the  centre  of  its  disk.  The  perfect  form  of  an 
Indian  bow  appeared  in  the  sky.  The  sighing  of  the  wind 
was  like  the  whistling  of  bullets.  Some  heard  invisible  troops 
of  horses  gallop  through  the  air,  while  others  interpreted 
prophecies  of  calamity  in  the  howling  of  the  wolves. 

At  the  first  alarm,  volunteers  from  Massachusetts  joined 
the  troops  of  Plymouth  ;  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  within 
a  week  from  the  beginning  of  hostilities,  the  Pokanokets 
were  driven  from  Mount  Hope ;  and  in  less  than  a  month 
Philip  was  a  fugitive  among  the  ]N"ipmucks,  the  interior  tribes 
of  Massachusetts.  The  little  army  of  the  colonists  then  en- 
tered the  territory  of  the  Karragan setts,  and  from  the  reluc- 
tant tribe  extorted  a  treaty  of  neutrality,  with  a  promise  to 
deliver  up  every  hostile  Indian.  Victory  seemed  promptly 
assured.  But  it  was  only  the  commencement  of  horrors. 
Canonchet,  the  chief  sachem  of  the  N^arragansetts,  was  the  son 
of  Miantonomoh ;  and  could  he  forget  his  father's  wrongs  ? 
Desolation  extended  along  the  whole  frontier.  Banished  from 
his  patrimony  where  the  pilgrims  found  a  friend,  and  from 
his  cabin  which  had  sheltered  exiles,  Philip  and  his  warriors 
spread  through  the  country,  awakening  their  race  to  a  war- 
fare of  extermination. 


1876.  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  RED  MEN.  389 

The  war,  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  was  one  of  ambuscades 
and  surprises.  They  never  once  met  the  English  in  open  field ; 
but  always,  ^ven  if  eightfold  in  numbers,  fled  timorously  be- 
fore infantry.  They  were  secret  as  beasts  of  prey,  skilful 
marksmen,  fleet  of  foot,  conversant  with  all  the  paths  of  the 
forest,  patient  of  fatigue,  and  mad  with  a  passion  for  rapine, 
vengeance,  and  destruction,  retreating  into  swamps  for  their 
fastnesses,  or  hiding  in  the  greenwood  thickets,  where  the 
leaves  muffled  the  eyes  of  the  pursuer.  By  the  rapidity  of 
their  descent,  they  seemed  omnipresent  among  the  scattered 
villages,  which  they  ravaged  like  a  passing  storm ;  and  for  a 
full  year  they  kept  all  New  England  in  a  state  of  terror  and 
excitement.  The  exploring  party  was  waylaid  and  cut  off,  and 
the  mangled  carcasses  and  disjointed  limbs  of  the  dead  were 
hung  upon  the  trees.  The  laborer  in  the  field,  the  reapers  as 
they  sallied  forth  to  the  harvest,  men  as  they  went  to  mill,  the 
shepherd's  boy  among  the  sheep,  were  shot  down  by  skulking 
foes,  whose  approach  was  invisible.  The  mother,  if  left  alone 
in  the  house,  feared  the  tomahawk  for  herself  and  children ; 
on  the  sudden  attack,  the  husband  would  fly  with  one  child, 
the  wife  with  another,  and  perhaps  one  only  escape ;  the  vih 
lage  cavalcade,  making  its  way  "to  meeting"  on  Sunday,  in 
files  on  horseback,  the  farmer  holding  the  bridle  in  one  hand 
and  a  child  in  the  other,  his  wife  seated  on  a  pillion  behind 
him,  it  may  be  with  a  child  in  her  lap,  as  was  the  fashion  in 
those  days,  could  not  proceed  safely;  but,  at  the  moment 
when  least  expected,  bullets  would  whiz  among  them,  sent 
from  an  unseen  enemy  by  the  wayside.  The  forest,  that  hid 
the  ambush  of  the  Indians,  secured  their  retreat. 

On  the  second  of  August,  Brookfield,  a  settlement  of  less 
than  twenty  families,  the  only  one  in  the  wilderness  between 
Lancaster  and  Hadley,  was  besieged  and  set  on  fire,  and  most 
gallantly  rescued  by  Simon  Willard,  then  seventy  years  old, 
and  rescued  only  to  be  abandoned  ;  on  the  first  of  September, 
Deerfield  was  burnt.  The  plains  of  Northfield  were  wet  with 
the  blood  of  Beers  and  twenty  of  his  valiant  associates.  On 
the  eighteenth,  as  Lathrop's  company  of  young  men,  aU 
",  culled "  out  of  the  towns  of  Essex  county,  were  conveying 
the  harvests  of  Deerfield  to  the  lower  towns,  they  were  sud- 


390      BRITISH  AMEKICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  v. 

denly  surrounded  by  a  horde  of  Indians ;  and,  as  each  party 
fought  from  behind  trees,  the  victory  was  with  the  far  more 
numerous  savages.  Hardly  a  white  man  escaped  ;  the  little 
stream  that  winds  through  the  tranquil  scene,  by  its  name  of 
blood,  commemorates  the  massacre  of  that  day.  For  ten  weeks 
of  the  autumn,  the  commissioners  of  the  united  colonies,  which 
were  now  but  three  in  number,  were  almost  constantly  in  ses- 
sion. With  one  voice  they  voted  that  the  war  was  a  just  and 
necessary  war  of  defence,  to  be  jointly  prosecuted  by  all  the 
united  colonies  at  their  common  charge.  They  directed  that 
a  thousand  soldiers  should  be  raised,  of  whom  one  half  should 
be  troopers  with  long  arms.  Of  the  whole  number,  the  quota 
of  Massachusetts  was  five  hundred  and  twentj^-seven  ;  of  Ply- 
mouth, one  hundred  and  fifty-eight ;  of  Connecticut,  three 
hundred  and  fifteen.  But  the  war  still  raged.  In  October, 
Springfield  was  burnt,  and  Hadley  once  more  assaulted.  The 
remoter  villages  were  deserted ;  the  pleasant  residences  of  civ- 
ilization in  the  wilderness  were  laid  waste. 

But  the  English  were  not  the  only  sufferers.  In  winter,  it 
was  the  custom  of  the  red  men  to  dwell  together  in  their  wig- 
wams ;  in  spring,  they  would  disperse  through  the  woods. 
In  wijiter,  the  warriors  who  had  spread  misery  through  the 
west  were  sheltered  among  the  ]S"arragan setts ;  in  spring,  they 
would  renew  their  devastations.  In  winter,  the  absence  of 
foliage  made  the  forests  less  dangerous ;  in  spring,  every  bush 
would  be  a  hiding-place.  It  was  resolved  to  regard  the  E^ar- 
ragansetts  as  enemies  ;  and,  just  before  the  solstice,  a  sec- 
ond levy  of  a  thousand  men,  raised  by  order  of  the  united 
colonies,  and  commanded  by  the  brave  Josiah  Winslow,  a 
native  of  New  England,  invaded  their  territory.  After  a 
night  spent  in  the  open  air,  they  waded  through  the  snow 
from  daybreak  till  an  hour  after  noon,  and,  on  the  nineteenth 
of  December,  reached  the  wigwams  of  their  enemies  within 
the  limits  of  the  present  town  of  South  Kingston.  The  vil- 
lage, built  on  about  six  acres  of  land  which  rose  out  of  a 
swamp,  was  protected  in  its  entire  circumference  by  thickly 
set  palisades,  to  which  the  approach  was  defended  by  a 
block-house.  Without  waiting  to  take  food  or  rest,  the  New 
Englanders   began   the   attack.     Davenport,  Gardner,  John- 


1675-1676.     NEW  ENGLAND  AND   ITS  RED  MEN.  391 

Bon,  Gallop,  Siely,  Marshall,  led  their  companions  through 
the  narrow  entrance  in  the  face  of  death,  and  left  their  lives 
as  a  testimony  to  their  patriotism  and  courage.  But  the  pali- 
sades, strong  as  they  were,  could  not  check  the  determined 
valor  of  the  assailing  party.  Within  the  enclosure  the  battle 
raged  hand  to  hand,  till  seventy  of  the  New  Englanders  were 
killed  and  twice  that  number  wounded  ;  nor  was  it  decided 
till  the  group  of  Indian  cabins  was  set  on  fire.  Then  were 
swept  away  the  winter's  stores  of  the  tribe ;  their  curiously 
wrought  baskets,  full  of  corn ;  their  famous  strings  of  wam- 
pum ;  their  wigwams  nicely  lined  with  mats — all  the  little 
comforts  of  savage  Hfe.  Old  men,  women,  and  babes,  per- 
ished in  the  flames.  How  many  of  their  warriors  fell  was 
never  known.  The  English  troops,  after  the  engagement, 
bearing  with  them  their  wounded,  retraced  their  steps,  by 
night,  through  a  snow-storm,  to  Wickford. 

"  We  will  fight,"  said  the  Indian  warriors,  "  these  twenty 
years  ;  you  have  houses,  barns,  and  corn  ;  we  have  now  noth- 
ing to  lose  ; "  and  towns  in  Massachusetts,  one  after  another — 
Lancaster,  Medfield,  Weymouth,  Groton,  Marlborough — were 
laid  in  ashes. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  tenth  of  February,  1676, 
Philip  of  Pokanoket,  with  warriors  of  the  Wampanoag,  I^ar- 
ragansett,  and  Mpmuck  tribes,  burst  upon  Lancaster  in  five 
several  assaults.  Forty -two  persons  had  sought  shelter  under 
the  roof  of  Mary  Rowlandson  ;  and,  after  a  hot  assault,  the 
Indians  succeeded  in  setting  the  house  on  fire.  "  Quickly," 
she  writes,  "  it  was  tlie  dolefulest  day  that  ever  mine  eyes 
saw.  Now  the  dreadful  hour  is  come.  Some  in  our  house 
were  fighting  for  their  lives ;  others  wallowing  in  blood  ;  the 
house  on  fire  over  our  heads,  and  the  bloody  heathen  ready  to 
knock  us  on  the  head  if  we  stirred  out.  I  took  my  children 
to  go  forth;  but  the  Indians  shot  so  thick  that  the  bullets 
rattled  against  the  house  as  if  one  had  thrown  a  handful  of 
stones.  We  had  six  stout  dogs,  but  none  of  them  would  stir. 
.  .  .  The  bullets  flying  thick,  one  went  through  my  side,  and 
through  my  poor  child  in  my  arms."  The  brutalities  of  an 
Indian  massacre  followed  ;  "  there  remained  nothing  to  me," 
she  continues,  now  in  captivity,  "  but  one  poor  wounded  babe. 


392      BKITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  v. 

Down  I  must  sit  in  the  snow,  with  my  sick  child,  the  picture 
of  death,  in  my  lap.  Not  the  least  crumb  of  refreshing  came 
within  either  of  our  mouths  from  Wednesday  night  to  Satur- 
day night,  except  only  a  little  cold  water.  One  Indian,  and 
then  a  second,  and  then  a  third,  would  come  and  tell  me, 
'  Your  master  will  quickly  knock  your  child  on  the  head.' 
This  was  the  comfort  I  had  from  them :  miserable  comforters 
were  they  all." 

[N'or  were  such  scenes  of  ruin  confined  to  Massachusetts.  At 
the  south,  the  l^arragansett  country  was  deserted  by  the  Eng- 
lish ;  Warwick  was  burnt ;  Providence  was  attacked  and  set  on 
fire.  "  We  will  fight  to  the  last  man,"  said  the  gallant  chief- 
tain Canonchet,  "  rather  than  become  servants  to  the  English." 
In  April,  1676,  taken  prisoner  near  the  Blackstone,  a  young 
man  began  to  question  him.  "  Child,"  replied  he,  "  you  do  not 
understand  war ;  I  will  answer  your  chief."  The  offer  of  his 
life,  if  he  would  procure  a  treaty  of  peace,  he  refused  with 
disdain.  "  I  know,"  added  he,  "  the  Indians  will  not  yield." 
Condemned  to  death,  he  only  answered :  "  I  like  it  well ;  I 
shall  die  before  I  speak  anything  unworthy  of  myself." 

There  was  no  security  but  to  seek  out  the  hiding-places  of 
the  natives.  On  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  just  above  the 
falls  that  take  their  name  from  the  gallant  Turner,  was  an 
encampment  of  large  bodies  of  hostile  Indians ;  a  band  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  volunteers,  from  among  the  yeomanry  of 
Springfield,  Hadley,  Hatfield,  and  Northampton,  led  by  Tur- 
ner and  Holyoke,  making  a  silent  march  in  the  dead  of 
night,  came  at  daybreak  of  the  nineteenth  of  May  upon  the 
wigwams.  The  Indians  are  taken  by  surprise  ;  some  are 
shot  down  in  their  cabins  ;  others  rush  to  the  river,  and  are 
drowned ;  others  push  from  shore  in  their  birchen  canoes, 
and  are  hurried  down  the  cataract. 

As  the  season  advanced,  the  Indians  abandoned  every 
hope.  Their  forces  were  wasted ;  they  had  no  fields  that  they 
'-eould  plant.  Continued  warfare  without  a  respite  was  against 
their  usages.  They  began,  as  the  unsuccessful  and  unhappy 
so  often  do,  to  quarrel  among  themselves ;  recriminations  en- 
sued ;  those  of  Connecticut  charged  their  sufferings  upon 
Philip;  and  his  allies  became  suppliants  for  peace.     Some 


1676-1678.      NEW  ENGLAND  AND  ITS  RED   MEN.  393 

surrendered  to  escape  starvation.  In  the  progress  of  the  year, 
between  two  and  three  thousand  Indians  submitted  or  were 
killed.  Church,  the  most  famous  partisan  warrior,  went  out 
to  hunt  down  parties  of  fugitives.  Some  of  the  tribes  wan- 
dered away  to  the  north,  and  were  blended  with  tribes  of 
Canada.  Philip  himself  was  chased  from  one  hiding-place  to 
another.  He  had  vainly  sought  to  engage  the  Mohawks  in 
the  contest ;  now  that  hope  was  at  an  end,  he  still  refused  to 
hear  of  peace,  and  struck  dead  the  warrior  who  proposed  it. 
At  length,  after  a  year's  absence,  he  resolved,  as  it  were,  to 
meet  his  destiny,  and  returned  to  the  beautiful  land  which 
held  the  graves  of  his  forefathers,  and  had  been  his  home. 
On  the  third  of  August,  1676,  he  escaped  narrowly,  leaving  his 
w^fe  and  only  son  as  prisoners.  "  My  heart  breaks,"  cried  the 
tattooed  chieftain,  in  the  agony  of  his  grief ;  "  now  I  am  ready 
to  die."  His  own  followers  began  to  plot  against  him,  to 
make  better  terms  for  themselves,  and  in  a  few  days  he  was 
shot  by  a  faithless  Indian.  His  captive  child  was  sold  as  a 
slave  in  Bermuda.  Of  the  Narragansetts,  once  the  chief  tribe 
of  New  England,  hardly  one  hundred  men  survived. 

During  the  war,  the  Mohegans  remained  faithful  to  the 
English,  and  not  a  drop  of  blood  was  shed  on  the  happy  soil 
of  Connecticut.  So  much  the  greater  was  the  loss  in  the  ad- 
jacent colonies.  Twelve  or  thirteen  towns  were  destroyed ; 
the  disbursements  and  losses  equalled  in  value  half  a  million 
of  dollars,  an  enormous  sum  for  the  few  of  that  day.  More 
than  six  hundred  men,  chiefly  young  men,  the  flower  of  the 
country,  perished  in  the  field.  As  many  as  six  hundred 
houses  were  burnt.  Of  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  colony, 
one  in  twenty  had  fallen  ;  and  one  family  in  twenty  had  been 
burnt  out. 

Let  us  not  forget  a  good  deed  of  the  generous  Irish ;  they 
sent  over  a  contribution,  small,  it  is  true,  to  relieve  in  part  the 
distresses  of  Plymouth  colony.  Connecticut,  which  had  con- 
tributed soldiers  to  the  war,  furnished  the  houseless  with  more 
than  a  thousand  bushels  of  corn.  "  God  will  remember  and 
reward  that  pleasant  fruit."  Boston  did  the  like,  for  "  the 
grace  of  Christ  always  made  Boston  exemplary  "  in  works  of 

that  nature. 
VOL.  I. — 27 


394:      BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  oh.  y. 

The  eastern  hostilities  with  the  Indians  had  a  different 
origin,  and  were  of  longer  continuance.  The  news  of  the 
rising  of  the  Pokanokets  was,  indeed,  the  signal  for  the  com- 
mencement of  devastations,  and,  within  a  few  weeks,  a  border 
warfare  extended  over  nearly  three  hundred  miles.  Sailors 
had  committed  outrages,  and  the  Indians  avenged  the  crimes 
of  a  corrupt  ship's  crew  on  the  villages.  There  was  no  gen- 
eral rising  of  the  Abenakis,  as  the  eastern  tribes  were  called, 
no  gatherings  of  large  bodies  of  men.  Of  the  English  settle- 
ments, nearly  one  half  were  destroyed  in  detail ;  the  inhabi- 
tants were  either  driven  away,  killed,  or  carried  into  captivity  ; 
for  the  hope  of  a  ransom  sometimes  counselled  mercy. 

The  escape  of  Anne  Brackett,  granddaughter  of  George 
Cleeves,  the  first  settler  of  Portland,  was  the  marvel  of  that 
day.  In  August  her  family  were  taken  captive  at  the  sack  of 
Palmouth.  When  her  captors  hastened  forward  to  further 
ravages  on  the  Kennebec,  she  was  able  to  loiter  behind  ;  with 
needle  and  thread  from  a  deserted  house,  she  repaired  the 
wreck  of  a  birchen  bark ;  then,  with  her  husband,  a  negro 
servant,  and  her  infant  child,  she  trusted  herself  to  the  sea  in 
the  patched  canoe,  which  had  neither  sail  nor  mast  and  was 
like  a  feather  on  the  waves.  She  crossed  Casco  bay,  and,  ar- 
riving at  Black  Point,  where  she  feared  to  encounter  savages, 
and  at  best  could  only  have  hoped  to  find  a  solitude,  how  great 
was  her  joy  as  she  discovered  a  vessel  from  Piscataqua,  that 
had  just  sought  anchorage  in  the  harbor  ! 

The  surrender  of  Acadia  to  the  French  had  rendered  the 
struggle  more  arduous,  for  the  eastern  Indians  obtained  arms 
from  the  French  on  the  Penobscot.  A  few  of  the  Mohawks 
took  up  the  hatchet ;  but  distance  rendered  co-operation  im- 
possible. After  several  fruitless  attempts  at  treaties,  on  the 
twelfth  of  April,  1678,  peace  was  finally  established  by  Ed- 
mund Andros,  as  governor  of  the  duke  of  York's  province 
beyond  the  Kennebec.  The  red  men  promised  the  release  of 
prisoners  and  the  security  of  English  towns ;  in  return,  the 
English  were  to  pay  annually,  as  a  quit-rent,  a  peck  of  corn 
for  every  English  family. 


1676-1677.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS  CHARTER.  395 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE    OVERTHROW   OF   THE   CHARTER   OF   MASSACHHSETTS. 

To  protect  the  Catholic  religion  and  establish  the  absolute 
power  of  the  crown  were  the  constant  desires  of  Charles  II. 
Tlie  movements  against  the  liberties  of  the  colonies  were 
marked  by  the  same  occasional  hesitation  and  the  same  un- 
derlying persistency  as  those  against  the  rights  of  English  cor- 
porations and  the  English  parliament.  For  fifteen  or  sixteen 
years  after  the  restoration,  there  was  no  officer  of  the  cus- 
toms in  Massachusetts,  except  the  governor,  annually  elected 
by  the  people ;  and  he  had  never  taken  the  oath  which  the 
navigation  act  of  1660  required.  During  the  disastrous  Ind- 
ian war,  JTew  England,  jealous  of  independence,  never  applied 
to  the  parent  country  for  assistance.  "  You  are  poor,"  said 
the  earl  of  Anglesey,  "  and  yet  proud."  The  English  minis- 
try, contributing  nothing  to  repair  colonial  losses,  made  no 
secret  of  its  ^intention  to  "reassume  the  government  of  Mas- 
sachusetts," and  while  the  ground  was  still  wet  with  the  blood 
of  her  yeomanry,  the  ruins  of  her  villages  were  still  smoking, 
and  the  Indian  war-cry  was  yet  ringing  in  the  forests  of 
Maine,  theVommittee  of  the  privy  council  for  plantations 
"  did  agree  that  this  was  the  conjuncture  to  do  something 
effectual  for  the  better  regulation  of  that  government,  or  else 
all  hopes  of  it  might  be  hereafter  lost."  The  choice  of  its 
agent  fell  upon  Edward  Randolph,  who  at  the  same  time 
was  intrusted  by  Robert  Mason  with  the  care  of  his  claims  to 
'New  Hampshire ;  «o  that  he  menaced  at  once  the  extent,  the 
trade,  and  the  charter  of  Massachusetts. 

Arriving  in  June,  1676,  the  emissary  immediately  de- 
manded of  Leverett  the  governor,  that  the  letter  which  he 


396    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  vl 

bore  from  the  king  should  with  convenient  speed  be  read  to 
the  magistrates.  The  governor  professed  ignorance  of  the 
officer  whose  signature  as  secretary  of  state  was  affixed  to  the 
letter,  and  denied  the  right  of  the  king  or  of  parliament  to 
bind  the  colony  by  laws  adverse  to  its  interests.  To  com- 
plaints of  the  neglect  of  the  act  of  navigation,  he  answered : 
"  The  king  can  in  reason  do  no  less  than  let  us  enjoy  our  lib- 
erties and  trade,  for  we  have  made  this  large  plantation  in 
the  wilderness  at  our  own  charge,  without  any  contribution 
from  the  crown." 

Eandolph,  who  was  received  only  as  the  agent  for  Mason, 
belonged  to  that  class  of  hungry  adventurers  with  whom 
America  became  familiar.  Returning  to  England,  after  a 
residence  of  but  six  weeks  in  the  'New  World,  he  exaggerated 
the  population  of  the  country  fourfold,  and  its  wealth  in  a 
still  greater  proportion.  On  his  false  reports,  the  English 
ministry  grew  more  zealous  to  employ  him ;  and,  in  the 
course  of  nine  years,  he  made  eight  voyages  to  America. 

The  colony,  reluctantly  yielding  to  the  direct  commands  of  ^ 
Charles  II.,  despatched  William  Stoughton  and  Peter  Bulke- 
ley  as  its  envoys  to  England ;  but,  agreeably  to  the  advice  of 
the  elders,  circumscribed  their  powers  "with  the  utmost 
care  and  caution."  The  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  local  govern- 
ment was  revived  throughout  the  jurisdiction. 

In  a  memorial  respecting  the  extent  of  their  territory,  the 
genera]  court  represented  their  peculiar  unhappiness,  to  be  re- 
quired, at  one  and  the  same  time,  to  maintain  before  courts 
of  law  a  title  to  the  provinces,  and  to  dispute  with  a  savage 
foe  the  possession  of  dismal  deserts.  E-emonstrance  was  of. 
no  avail.  In  1677,  a  committee  of  the  privy  council,  which 
examined  all  the  charters,  denied  to  Massachusetts  the  right 
of  jurisdiction  over  Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  The  de- 
cision was  so  manifestly  in  conformity  with  English  law  that 
the  colonial  agents  attempted  no  serious  resistance. 

These  provinces  being  thus  severed  from  the  government 
of  Massachusetts,  King  Charles  was  willing  to  secure  them  as 
an  appanage  for  his  reputed  son,  the  kind-hearted,  worthleci 
duke  of  Monmouth,  the  Absalom  of  that  day,  whose  frivolous 
ambition  involved  him  in  a  dishonest  opposition  to  his  father. 


^ 


1677-1680.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS  CHARTER.  397 

and  at  last  conducted  him  to  the  scaffold.  It  was  thought 
that  the  united  provinces  might  form  a  noble  principality, 
with  an  immediate  and  increasing  revenue.  But  in  May, 
1677,  before  the  monarch,  whom  extravagance  had  impover- 
ished, could  resolve  on  a  negotiation,  Massachusetts,  through  a 
Boston  merchant,  purchased  the  claims  of  Gorges  for  twelve 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

In  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  the  transaction  was  for  Mas- 
sachusetts most  injurious ;  for  it  threw  upon  her  the  defence 
of  a  wide  and  most  exposed  frontier.  But  she  did  not,  at  this 
time,  come  into  possession  of  the  whole  territory  which  now 
forms  the  state  of  Maine.  France,  under  the  treaty  of  Breda, 
occupied  the  district  from  the  St.  Croix  to  the  Penobscot, 
and  claimed  the  Kennebec  as  the  line  of  separation  between 
its  rightful  possessions  and  those  of  England ;  the  duke  of 
York  held  the  tract  between  the  Penobscot  and  the  Kennebec, 
pretending,  indeed,  to  own  all  that  lies  between  the  Kennebec 
and  the  St,  Croix ;  while  Massachusetts,  as  the  successor  to 
Gorges,  was  proprietary  only  of  the  district  between  the  Ken- 
nebec and  the  Piscataqua. 

y  ^  novel  form  of  political  institution  ensued.  Massachu- 
setts, in  its  corporate  capacity,  was  become  the  lord  proprie- 
tary of  Maine.  The  district  had  thus  far  been  represented  in 
the  Massachusetts  house  of  representatives;  in  obedience  to 
an  ordinance  of  the  general  court,  the  governor  and  assistants, 
in  1680,  organized  its  government  as  a  province,  according  to 
the  charter  to  Gorges  ;  the  president  and  council  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  magistrates  of  Massachusetts;  at  the  same 
time,  a  popular  legislative  branch  was  established,  composed 
of  deputies  from  the  several  towns  in  the  district.  Danforth, 
who  was  selected  to  be  the  first  president,  was  a  man  of  supe- 
rior worth  ;  yet  the  pride  of  the  province  was  offended  by  its 
subordination ;  the  old  religious  differences  had  not  lost  their 
influence  ;  and  royalists  and  churchmen  prayed  for  the  inter- 
position of  the  king.  Massachusetts  was  compelled  to  employ 
force  to  assert  its  sovereignty,  which,  nevertheless,  was  exer- 
cised with  moderation  and  justice. 

On  the  first  apprehension  that  the  claim  of  Mason  would 
be  revived,  the  people  of  JS^ew  Hampshire,  in  their  town- 


398    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  oh.  vi. 

meetings,  expressed  their  content  with  the  government  of 
Massachusetts.  But  the  popular  wish  availed  little  in  the 
decision  of  a  question  of  law ;  the  patent  of  Mason  was  found 
on  investigation  to  confer  no  jurisdiction  ;  the  unappropriated 
lands  were  allowed  to  belong  to  him  ;  but  the  rights  of  the  set- 
tlers to  the  soil  which  they  actually  occupied  were  reserved  for 
litigation  in  colonial  courts.  In  July,  1679,  Kew  Hampshire 
was  separated  from  Massachusetts,  and  organized  as  a  royal 
province.  It  was  the  earliest  royal  government  in  New  England. 
The  king,  reserving  a  negative  voice  to  himself  and  his  officers, 
engaged  to  continue  the  privilege  of  an  assembly,  unless  he  or 
his  heirs  should  deem  that  privilege  "  an  inconvenience."  The 
persons  he  first  named  to  the  offices  of  president  and  council 
were  residents  of  the  colony,  and  friends  to  the  colonists ; 
but,  perceiving  that  their  appointment  had  no  other  object 
than  to  render  the  transition  to  a  new  form  of  government 
less  intolerable,  they  accepted  office  reluctantly. 

At  length  a  general  assembly  was  convened  at  Portsmouth, 
and  it  was  thus  that  New  Hampshire,  in  March,  1680,  ad- 
dressed its  more  powerful  neighbor :  "  We  thankfully  ac- 
knowledge your  kindness  while  we  dwelt  under  your  shadow, 
owning  ourselves  deeply  obliged  that,  on  our  earnest  request, 
you  took  us  under  your  government,  and  ruled  us  well.  If 
there  be  opportunity  for  us  to  be  any  wise  serviceable  to  you, 
we  shall  show  how  ready  we  are  to  embrace  it.  Wishing  the 
presence  of  God  to  be  with  you,  we  crave  the  benefit  of  your 
prayers  on  us,  who  are  separated  from  our  brethren." 

The  colony  then  proceeded  to  assert  its  rights  by  a  solemn 
decree,  the  first  in  its  new  code :  "  No  act,  imposition,  law,  or 
ordinance  shall  be  valid,  unless  made  by  the  assembly  and 
approved  by  the  people."  New  Hampshire  seized  the  ear- 
liest moment  of  its  separate  existence  to  take  its  place  by  the 
side  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia.  But  its  code  was  dis- 
approved in  England  both  for  style  and  matter ;  and  its  pro- 
visions were  rejected  as  incongruous  and  absurd. 

Nor  was  Mason  successful  in  establishing  his  claims  to  the 
soil.  The  colonial  government  protected  the  colonists,  and 
restrained  his  exactions.  Hastening  to  England  to  solicit  a 
change,  he  was  allowed  to  make  such  arrangements  as  would 


1680-1684.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS   CHARTER.  399 

promote  his  own  interests.  Himself  a  party  in  suits  to  be 
commenced,  he  was  authorized  to  select  the  person  to  be  ap- 
pointed governor.  He  found  a  fit  agent  in  Edward  Cranfield, 
a  man  who  had  no  object  in  banishing  himself  to  America  but 
to  wrest  a  fortune  from  the  sawyers  and  lumber-dealers  of  New 
Hampshire.  By  a  deed  enrolled  in  chancery,  Mason,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1682,  surrendered  one  fifth  part  of  all  quit-rents  to  the 
king  for  the  support  of  the  governor,  and  gave  a  mortgage  of 
the  province  for  twenty-one  years,  as  collateral  security  for  the 
payment  of  his  salary.  Obtaining  further  the  exclusive  right 
to  the  anticipated  harvest  of  fines  and  forfeitures,  Cranfield 
relinquished  a  profitable  employment  in  England,  and  em- 
barked for  the  banks  of  the  Piscataqua. 

But  the  assembly  which  he  convened,  in  November,  1682, 
dispelled  his  golden  visions.  The  "  rugged  "  legislators  voted 
him  a  gratuity  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds ;  but  they 
would  not  yield  their  liberties ;  and  in  their  session  of  Janu- 
ary, 1683,  he  dissolved  them.  The  dissolution  of  an  assembly 
was,  in  New  England,  till  then  unheard  of ;  a  crowd  of  rash 
men  raised  the  cry  for  "  liberty  and  reformation."  The  lead- 
er, Edward  Gove,  an  unlettered  enthusiast,  was  confined  in 
irons,  condemned  to  death  for  treason,  and,  having  been  trans- 
ported to  England,  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don till  1686.  Lawsuits  about  land  were  multiplied.  Packed 
juries  and  partial  judges  settled  questions  rapidly  ;  but  Mason 
could  neither  get  possession  of  the  estates  nor  find  a  purchaser. 

Repairing  to  Boston,  in  February,  1683,  Cranfield  wrote 
to  the  British  ministry  that  should  the  duke  of  York  survive 
Charles  XL,  Massachusetts,  buoyed  up  by  the  non-conformist 
party  in  England,  would  at  once  fall  from  their  allegiance  to 
the  crown.  He  therefore  advised  for  that  country  "  a  thorough 
regulation,"  and  enforced  the  necessity  of  sending  a  frigate  to 
Boston  harbor  till  the  government  should  pass  "into  the  hands 
of  loyal  and  honest  gentlemen,  and  the  faction  be  made  inca- 
pable ever  after  of  altering  or  disturbing  that  government." 

In  1683,  Cranfield,  with  a  subservient  council,  began  to 
exercise  powers  of  legislation.  When  the  towns  privately  sent 
an  agent  to  England,  Yaughan,  who  had  been  active  in  ob- 
taining depositions  for  his  use,  was  required  to  find  securities 


400    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     pabt  n. ;  ch.  vi. 

for  good  behavior.     He  refused,  declaring  that  he  had  broken 
no  law  ;  and  the  governor  immediately  imprisoned  him. 

Cranfield,  in  his  longing  for  money,  stooped  to  falsehood, 
and,  in  January,  1684,  hastily  calling  an  assembly,  on  a  vague 
rumor  of  an  invasion,  laid  before  them  a  bill  granting  a  sudden 
supply.     The  representatives,  after  debate,  negatived  the  bill. 

To  intimidate  the  clergy,  he  forbade  the  usual  exercise  of 
church  discipline.  In  Portsmouth,  Moody,  the  minister,  re- 
plied to  his  threats  by  a  sermon,  and  the  church  was  inflexible. 
Cranfield,  asserting  that  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  England 
were  in  force  in  the  colony,  ordered  the  people  to  keep  Christ- 
mas as  a  festival,  and  to  fast  on  the  thirtieth  of  January.  But 
his  capital  stroke  of  policy  was  an  order  that  all  persons  should 
be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper  as  freely  as  in  the  Episcopal 
or  Lutheran  church,  and  that  the  English  liturgy  should  in  cer- 
tain cases  be  adopted.  The  order  was  disregarded.  The  gov- 
ernor himself  appointed  a  day,  on  which  he  claimed  to  receive 
the  elements  at  the  hands  of  Moody,  after  the  forms  of  the 
English  church.  Moody  refused ;  was  prosecuted,  condemned, 
and  imprisoned.  Keligious  worship  was  almost  entirely  broken 
up.  But  the  people  did  not  yield ;  and  Cranfield,  vexed  at 
the  stubbornness  of  the  clergy,  gave  information  in  England 
that,  "  while  the  clergy  were  allowed  to  preach,  no  true  alle- 
giance could  be  found."  It  had  long  been  evident  "there 
could  be  no  quiet  till  the  factious  preachers  were  turned  out 
of  the  province." 

In  1684,  an  attempt  was  made  to  impose  taxes  by  the  vote 
of  the  council.  That  the  people  might  the  less  reluctantly  pay 
them,  a  report  of  a  war  with  the  eastern  Indians  was  spread 
abroad ;  and  Cranfield  made  a  visit  to  E"ew  York,  under  pre- 
tence of  concerting  measures  with  the  governor  of  that  prov- 
ince. The  committee  of  plantations  had  been  warned  that, 
"without  some  visible  force  to  keep  the  people  of  ^ew 
Hampshire  under,  it  would  be  a  difficult  or  impossible  thing 
to  execute  his  majesty's  commands  or  the  laws  of  trade."  As- 
sociations were  formed  for  mutual  support  in  resisting  the 
collection  of  illegal  taxes.  At  Exeter,  the  sheriff  was  driven 
off  with  clubs,  and  the  farmers'  wives  threatened  to  scald  his 
officer  if  he  should  attempt  to  attach  property  in  the  house. 


1675-1679.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS   CHARTER.  401 

If  rioters  were  committed,  tliey  were  rescued  bj  a  new  riot ; 
when,  in  January,  1685,  the  troop  of  horse  was  ordered  out, 
not  a  man  obeyed  the  summons. 

Cranfield,  in  despair,  wrote  imploringly  to  the  government 
in  England :  "  I  shall  esteem  it  the  greatest  happiness  in  the 
world  to  be  allowed  to  remove  from  these  unreasonable  people. 
They  cavil  at  the  royal  commission,  and  not  at  my  person. 
'No  one  will  be  accepted  by  them,  who  puts  the  king's  com- 
mands in  execution."  His  conduct  met  with  approbation, 
and  he  was  allowed  to  withdraw  from  the  province.  The 
character  of  New  Hampshire  remained  unchanged.  It  was 
ever  esteemed  in  England  "  factious  in  its  economy,  affording 
no  exemplary  precedents  "  to  the  friends  of  arbitrary  power. 

Massachusetts  might,  perhaps,  still  have  defied  the  king, 
and  escaped  or  overawed  the  privy  council;  but  the  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers  of  England,  fearing  a  rival  beyond 
the  ocean,  discerned  how  their  monopoly  might  be  sustained, 
and  pressed  steadily  toward  their  object.  Their  complaints 
had,  in  1675,  been  received  with  favor ;  their  selfish  reasoning 
was  heard  with  a  willingness  to  be  convinced. 

The  agents  of  the  colony,  in  1676,  had  brought  with  them 
no  sufficient  power :  "  They  professed  their  willingness  to  pay 
duties  to  the  king  within  the  plantation,  provided  they  might 
be  allowed  to  import  the  necessary  commodities  of  Europe 
without  entering  first  in  England."  An  amnesty  for  the  past 
would  readily  have  been  conceded ;  for  the  future,  it  was  re- 
solved "to  consider  the  whole  matter  from  the  very  root," 
and  to  reduce  Massachusetts  to  "  a  more  palpable  dependence." 
That  this  might  be  done  with  its  consent,  the  agents  were 
enjoined  to  procure  larger  powers  ;  but  no  larger  powers  were 
granted. 

It  was  against  fearful  odds  that  Massachusetts  continued 
the  struggle.  All  England  was  united.  Whatever  party 
triumphed,  the  mercantile  interest  would  readily  procure  an 
enforcement  of  the  laws  of  trade.  "  The  country's  neglect  of 
the  acts  of  navigation,"  wrote  the  agents,  *-has  been  most 
unhappy.  Without  a  compliance  in  that  matter,  nothing  can 
be  expected  but  a  total  breach."  "All  the  storms  of  dis- 
pleasure "  would  be  let  loose. 


l)';\ 


402    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  vi. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  a  surprise  when,  in  April,  1678,  the 
committee  of  plantations  directed  the  attorney  and  solicitor- 
general  to  report  whether  the  original  charter  had  any  legal 
entity,  what  was  the  effect  of  the  quo  warranto  brought  against 
it  in  1635,  and,  lastly,  whether  the  corporation  had  forfeited 
their  charter  by  maladministration  of  its  powers.  In  the  fol- 
lowing month  the  opinion  of  the  crown  lawyers,  Jones  and 
Winnington,  was  given,  that  the  charter,  if  originally  good, 
had  not  been  dissolved  by  any  quo  warranto  or  judgment,  but 
that  the  misdemeanors  objected  against  the  corporation  were 
sufficient  to  avoid  their  patent.  The  committee  immediately 
decided  that  a  quo  warranto  should  be  brought  against  the 
charter  of  Massachusetts,  and  "new  laws  framed  instead  of  such 
as  were  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England ; "  and  Randolph 
was  at  once  appointed  "  collector  of  his  majesty's  customs  in 
IfsTew  England."  Many  of  the  committee  were  confirmed  in 
their  belief  that  a  general  governor  and  a  colonial  judicature  of 
the  king's  appointment  were  become  "  altogether  necessary." 

In  Massachusetts  a  synod  of  all  the  churches  was  convened, 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  dangers  to  New  England  lib- 
erty, and  the  mode  of  removing  the  evils.  The  general  court,  in 
1678  and  1679,  enacted  laws,  partially  removing  the  grounds  of 
complaint.  High  treason  was  made  a  capital  offence  ;  the  oath 
of  allegiance  was  required  of  every  male  above  sixteen  years 
in  the  colony ;  the  king's  arms  were  "  carved  by  an  able  artist 
and  erected  in  the  court-house."  The  colony  was  unwilling 
to  forfeit  its  charter  and  its  religious  liberties  on  a  pecuniary 
question,  and  yet  to  acknowledge  its  readiness  to  submit  to  an 
act  of  parliament  would  be  a  surrender  of  the  privilege  of 
independent  legislation.  It  therefore  declared  that  "  the  acts 
of  navigation  were  an  invasion  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  subjects  of  his  majesty  in  the  colony,  they  not  being  rep- 
resented in  parliament."  "  The  laws  of  England,"  it  added, 
"  do  not  reach  America."  The  general  court  then  gave  valid- 
ity to  the  laws  of  navigation  by  an  act  of  its  own.  "  We  would 
not,"  so  they  wrote  to  their  agents,  "  that  by  any  concessions 
of  ours,  or  of  yours  in  our  behalf,  any  the  least  stone  should 
be  put  out  of  the  wall,  and  we  hope  that  his  majesty's  favor 
will  be  as  the  north  wind  to  scatter  the  clouds." 


1679-1683.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS  CHARTER.  403 

The  committee  of  plantations  proposed,  as  measures  to  be 
immediately  adopted,  that  the  bishop  of  London  should  ap- 
point a  minister  to  reside  in  Boston,  and  that  conformists  to 
the  church  of  England  should  be  admitted  to  all  freedoms 
and  privileges  of  the  colony.  The  settlement  of  weightier 
matters  was  postponed  till  the  charter  should  be  set  aside  by  a 
court  of  law. 

In  December,  1679,  the  agents,  Stoughton  and  Bulkeley, 
arrived  in  Boston.  About  the  same  time  came  Randolph, 
whose  patent  as  collector  was  recognised  and  enrolled,  but  who 
as  yet  received  no  help  in  the  administration  of  his  office.  The 
commands  of  the  king,  that  other  agents  should  be  sent  over 
with  unlimited  powers,  were  not  followed.  Twice  did  Charles 
II.  remonstrate  against  the  disobedience  of  his  subjects ;  twice 
did  Randolph  cross  the  Atlantic  and  return  to  England,  to 
assist  in  directing  measures  against  Massachusetts.  The  com- 
monwealth continued  its  system  of  procrastination.  But  the 
extravagances  and  crimes  of  the  anti-popery  party  in  Eng- 
land soon  brought  about  a  reaction,  and  the  king,  dissolving 
parliament  and  making  use  of  subservient  courts,  was  left  the 
undisputed  master  in  his  kingdom^  A  letter  from  him  to 
Massachusetts  announced  categorically  that  agents  must  be 
sent  over  with  full  powers,  or  measures  would  be  taken 
"  whereby  their  charter  might  be  legally  evicted  and  made 
void."  Moved  by  the  nearness  of  the  danger,  the  general 
court,  in  February,  1682,  selected  Joseph  Dudley  and  John 
Richards  as  its  agents.  France  had  succeeded  in  bribing  the 
king  to  betray  the  interests  of  England ;  Massachusetts  was 
willing  to  purchase  of  him  clemency  toward  its  liberties. 

The  commission  of  the  deputies  was  condemned  by  the 
privy  council  as  insufficient,  because  they  were  expressly  en- 
joined to  consent  to  nothing  that  should  infringe  the  privileges 
of  the  government  established  under  the  charter.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1682,  they  were  ordered  to  obtain  full  powers  for  the 
entire  regulation  of  the  government,  or  the  method  of  a  judi- 
cial process  would  be  adopted.  The  agents  represented  the 
condition  of  the  colony  as  desperate.  Was  it  not  safest  for 
the  colony  to  decline  a  contest,  and  throw  itself  upon  the  favor 
or  forbearance  of  the  king  ?     Such  was  the  theme  of  universal 


404    BRITISH  AMERICA    FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  oh.  vi. 

discussion ;  it  entered  into  the  prayers  of  families ;  it  filled 
the  sermons  of- the  ministers;  and,  finally,  Massachusetts  re- 
solved, in  a  manner  that  showed  it  to  be  distinctly  the  senti- 
ment of  the  people,  to  resign  the  territory  of  Maine,  which 
was  held  by  purchase,  but  not  to  concede  one  liberty  or  one 
privilege  which  was  held  by  charter.  If  liberty  was  to  receive 
its  death-blow,  better  that  it  should  die  by  the  violence  and 
injustice  of  others  than  by  their  own  weakness. 

Before  the  end  of  July,  1683,  the  quo  warranto  was  issued  ; 
Massachusetts  was  arraigned  before  an  English  tribunal,  under 
judges  holding  their  office  at  the  pleasure  of  the  crown ;  and 
in  October,  Eandolph,  the  hated  messenger,  arrived  in  Boston 
with  the  writ.  At  the  same  time,  a  declaration  from  the  king 
asked  once  more  for  submission,  promising  as  a  reward  the 
royal  favor,  and  the  fewest  alterations  in  the  charter  consistent 
with  the  support  of  a  royal  government.  To  render  submis- 
sion in  Massachusetts  easy  by  showing  that  opposition  was 
desperate,  two  hundred  copies  of  the  proceedings  against  Lon- 
don were  sent  over  to  be  dispersed  among  the  people.  The 
governor  and  assistants,  now  eighteen  in  number,  were  per- 
suaded of  the  hopelessness  of  further  resistance ;  even  a  tardy 
surrender  of  the  charter  might  conciliate  the  monarch.  On 
the  fifteenth  of  November,  they  therefore  resolved  to  remind 
the  king  of  his  promises,  and  "  not  to  contend  with  his  majesty 
in  a  court  of  law,"  they  would  "  send  agents,  empowered  to 
receive  his  majesty's  commands." 

The  magistrates  referred  their  vote  to  "  their  brethren  the 
deputies  "  for  concurrence.  During  a  full  fortnight  the  sub- 
ject was  debated. 

"  Ought  the  government  of  Massachusetts,"  thus  it  was 
argued,  "  submit  to  the  pleasure  of  the  court  as  to  alteration 
of  their  charter  ?  Submission  would  be  an  offence  against  the 
majesty  of  Heaven ;  the  religion  of  the  people  of  ISTew  Eng- 
land and  the  court's  pleasure  cannot  consist  together.  By 
submission  Massachusetts  will  gain  nothing.  The  court  design 
an  essential  alteration,  destructive  to  the  vitals  of  the  charter. 
The  corporations  in  England  that  have  made  an  entire  resigna- 
tion have  no  advantage  over  those  that  have  stood  a  suit  in 
law ;  but,  if  we  maintain  a  suit,  though  we  should  be  condemned, 


1683-1684.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS  CHARTER.  405 

we  may  bring  the  matter  to  chancery  or  to  a  parliament,  and 
in  time  recover  all  again.  We  ought  not  to  act  contrary  to 
that  way  in  which  God  hath  owned  our  worthy  predecessors, 
who,  in  1638,  when  there  was  a  quo  warranto  against  the 
charter,  durst  not  submit.  In  1664,  they  did  not  submit  to 
the  commissioners.  We,  their  successors,  should  walk  in  tlieir 
steps,  and  so  trust  in  the  God  of  our  fathers  that  we  shall  see 
his  salvation.  Submission  would  gratify  our  adversaries  and 
grieve  our  friends.  Our  enemies  know  it  will  sound  ill  in  the 
world  for  them  to  take  away  the  liberties  of  a  poor  people  of 
God  in  a  wilderness.  A  resignation  will  bring  slavery  upon 
us  sooner  than  otherwise  it  would  be ;  and  will  grieve  our 
friends  in  other  colonies,  whose  eyes  are  now  upon  New  Eng- 
land, expecting  that  the  people  there  will  not,  through  fear, 
give  a  pernicious  example  unto  others. 

"  Blind  obedience  to  the  pleasure  of  the  court  cannot  be 
without  great  sin,  and  incurring  the  high  displeasure  of  the 
King  of  kings.  Submission  would  be  contrary  unto  that 
which  has  been  the  unanimous  advice  of  the  ministers,  given 
after  a  solemn  day  of  prayer.  The  ministers  of  God  in  ]N^ew 
England  have  more  of  the  spirit  of  John  Baptist  in  them, 
than  now,  when  a  storm  hath  overtaken  them,  to  be  reeds 
shaken  with  the  wind.  The  priests  were  to  be  the  first  that 
set  their  foot  in  the  waters,  and  there  to  stand  till  the  danger 
be  past.  Of  all  men,  they  should  be  an  example  to  the  Lord's 
people,  of  faith,  courage,  and  constancy.  Unquestionably,  if 
the  blessed  Cotton,  Hooker,  Davenport,  Mather,  Shepherd, 
Mitchell,  were  now  living,  they  would,  as  is  evident  from 
their  printed  books,  say.  Do  not  sin  in  giving  away  the  inher- 
itance of  your  fathers. 

"IS'or  ought  we  submit  without  the  consent  of  the  body  of 
the  people.  But  the  freemen  and  church  members  through- 
out New  England  will  never  consent  hereunto.  Therefore 
the  government  may  not  do  it. 

"  The  civil  liberties  of  New  England  are  part  of  the  in- 
heritance of  their  fathers ;  and  shall  we  give  that  inheritance 
away  ?  Is  it  objected  that  we  shall  be  exposed  to  great  suf- 
ferings? Better  suffer  than  sin.  It  is  better  to  trust  the  God 
of  our  fathers  than  to  put  confidence  in  princes.     If  we  suffer 


406    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  oh.  vi. 

because  we  dare  not  comply  with  the  wills  of  men  against  the 
will  of  God,  we  suffer  in  a  good  cause,  and  shall  be  accounted 
martyrs  in  the  next  generation  and  at  the  great  day." 

At  the  request  of  the  select  men  in  Boston,  Increase 
Mather,  contrary  to  his  wont,  appeared  at  a  town-meeting, 
and  encouraged  and  excited  the  people  to  stand  by  their 
charter  privileges.  The  decision  of  the  representatives  of 
the  colony,  made  on  the  last  day  of  November,  1683,  is  on 
record  :  "  The  deputies  consent  not,  but  adhere  to  their  former 
bills." 

Addresses  were  forwarded  to  the  king,  urging  forbearance ; 
but  entreaty  and  remonstrance  were  vain.  The  suit  which 
had  been  begun  in  the  court  of  the  king's  bench  was  dropped ; 
a  scire  facias  was  issued  from  the  court  of  chancery  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  before  the  colony  could  act  upofi  it,  on  the  eigh- 
teenth of  June,  1684,  just  one  year  and  six  days  after  the 
judgment  against  the  city  of  London,  the  charter  was  condi- 
tionally adjudged  to  be  forfeited.  The  judgment  was  con- 
firmed on  the  first  day  of  the  Michaelmas  term. 

Thus  fell  the  charter,  which  had  been  brought  by  the  fleet 
of  Winthrop  to  the  shores  of  New  England,  and  had  been  cher- 
ished with  courage  through  every  vicissitude.  Massachusetts 
having  lost  its  safeguards  against  absolute  power  and  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  king,  his  privy  council  took  into  con- 
sideration what  was  to  be  done  with  it.  The  question  was 
thoroughly  considered  whether  a  government  like  that  of  Eng- 
land should  be  introduced  into  the  colonies,  or  if  their  inhabi- 
tants should  be  ruled  by  a  royal  governor  and  council  with 
authority  limited  only  by  royal  instructions.  Lord  Halifax 
insisted  with  energy  that  the  laws  of  England  ought  beyond 
a  doubt  to  be  established  in  a  country  composed  of  English- 
men ;  and  omitted  none  of  the  reasons  by  which  it  may  be 
proved  that  an  absolute  government  is  neither  so  happy  nor 
so  safe  as  one  which  sets  bounds  to  the  authority  of  the  prince. 
For  himself,  he  declared  that  he  would  never  live  under  a 
king  who  should  have  power  to  take  money  from  his  pocket 
whenever  it  pleased  him.  The  other  ministers,  avoiding  a 
discussion  of  the  best  form  of  government,  maintained  that 
the  crown  could  and  ought  to  govern  countries  so  remote  from 


1684-1685.    MASSACHUSETTS  LOSES  ITS   CHARTER.  407 

England,  as  it  should  deem  best.  The  council  resolved  that 
there  was  no  need  of  a  colonial  assembly  to  grant  taxes  and 
regulate  other  important  matters ;  but  that  the  governor  and 
council  should  act,  according  to  their  own  judgment,  with  no 
accountability  except  to  his  British  majesty.  Louis  XIY., 
after  reading  a  report  of  this  debate,  warned  the  king  of  Eng- 
land against  listening  to  an  adviser  like  Halifax  on  the  man- 
ner of  governing  I^ew  England ;  and  it  was  decided  that,  in 
those  distant  regions,  the  whole  power,  legislative  as  well  as 
executive,  should  abide  in  the  crown. 

A  copy  of  the  judgment  against  the  charter  of  Massachu- 
setts was  received  in  Boston  on  the  second  of  July  of  the  fol- 
lowing year;  but,  before  that  day,  the  duke  of  York  had 
ascended  the  throne. 

Gloomy  forebodings  overspread  New  England.  The  con- 
federacy of  the  Calvinist  colonies  had  already  died  of  apathy. 
The  restoration  of  monarchy,  in  1660,  had  been  the  signal  for 
its  decline.  By  its  articles  no  two  colonies  could  be  joined  in 
one  except  with  the  consent  of  the  whole ;  and  the  charter  by 
which  Charles  II.  annexed  New  Haven  to  Connecticut  proved 
that  there  was  a  higher  power,  which  overruled  their  decisions 
and  paralyzed  their  acts.  From  that  epoch  the  meetings  of 
the  commissioners  were  held  but  once  in  three  years.  The 
dangers  of  the  Indian  war  roused  their  dying  energies.  After 
the  peace  at  Boston,  in  1681,  they  did  but  settle  a  few  small 
war-claims;  their  only  meeting  after  the  forfeiture  of  the 
charter  of  Massachusetts  was  in  September,  1684,  at  Hartford, 
from  which  place  they  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  to  bewail 
the  rebukes  and  threatening  from  Heaven,  and  their  last  word 
was  "  for  the  defence  of  the  Protestant  religion." 


408    BRITISH  AMEEIOA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  en.  tii. 


CHAPTEE  YIL 

SHAFTESBURY   AND   LOCKE   LEGISLATE   FOR   CAROLESTA. 

Meantime,  civilization  had  advanced  at  the  South  ;  and 
twin  stars  were  emerging  bejond  the  limits  of  Virginia,  in  the 
country  over  which  Soto  had  rambled  in  quest  of  gold,  where 
Calvinists,  befriended  by  Coligny,  had  sought  a  refuge,  and 
where  Raleigh  had  attempted  to  found  colonial  principalities. 

In  March,  1663,  the  province  of  Carolina,  extending  from 
the  thirty-sixth  degree  of  north  latitude  to  the  river  San 
Matheo,  was  erected  into  one  territory ;  and  the  earl  of  Clar- 
endon ;  Monk,  now  duke  of  Albemarle ;  Lord  Craven,  a 
brave  cavalier ;  Lord  Ashley  Cooper,  afterward  earl  of 
Shaftesbury ;  Sir  John  Colleton ;  Lord  Berkeley ;  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley,  the  governor  of  Virginia ;  and  the  passionate, 
ignorant,  and  not  too  honest  Sir  George  Carteret — were  con- 
stituted its  proprietors  and  immediate  sovereigns.  No  author- 
ity was  reserved  to  the  crown  but  a  barren  allegiance. 

The  territory  now  granted  was  included  l)y  the  Spaniards 
within  the  limits  of  Florida;  and  the  castle  of  St.  Augustine 
was  deemed  proof  of  the  actual  possession  of  an  indefinite 
adjacent  country.  Spain  had  not  yet  formally  acknowledged 
the  English  title  to  any  possessions  in  America ;  and  the  treaty 
concluded  at  Madrid,  in  May,  1667,  did  but  faintly  concede 
the  right  of  England  to  transatlantic  colonies,  and  to  a  con- 
tinuance of  commerce  in  "  the  accustomed  seas."  Three  years 
later  she  recognised  as  English  the  colonies  which  were  then 
in  the  possession  of  England,  but  their  boundaries  in  the  south 
and  west  were  not  determined. 

And  not  Spain  only  claimed  Carolina.  In  1630,  a  patent 
for  all  the  territory  had  been  issued  to  Sir  Eobert  Keath; 


1639-1663.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  409 

and  there  is  room  to  believe  that,  in  1639,  permanent  planta- 
tions were  planned  and  perhaps  attempted  by  his  assign. 
William  Hawley  appeared  in  Virginia  as  ''  governor  of  Caro- 
lina," the  land  between  the  thirty-first  and  thirty-sixth  paral- 
lels of  latitude  ;  and  leave  was  granted  by  the  Virginia  legis- 
lature that  it  might  be  colonized  by  one  hundred  persons  from 
Virginia,  "  freemen,  being  single,  and  disengaged  of  debt." 
The  attempts  were  certainly  unsuccessful,  for,  in  1663,  the 
patent  was  declared  void,  because  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  granted  had  never  been  fulfilled. 

In  1660  or  1661,  New  England  men  had  found  their  way 
into  the  Cape  Fear  river,  had  purchased  of  the  Indian  chiefs 
a  title  to  the  soil,  and  had  planted  a  little  colony  of  herdsmen 
far  to  the  south  of  any  English  settlement  on  the  continent. 
They  had  partners  in  London,  and,  within  five  months  of 
the  grant  of  Carolina,  their  agents  pleaded  their  discovery, 
occupancy,  and  purchase,  as  affording  a  valid  title  to  the 
soil,  while  they  claimed  the  privileges  of  self-government 
as  a  natural  right.  A  compromise  was  offered ;  and  the  pro- 
prietaries, in  their  "  proposals  to  all  that  would  plant  in  Caro- 
lina," promised  emigrants  from  IS^ew  England  religious  free- 
dom, a  governor  and  council  to  be  elected  from  among  a  num- 
ber whom  the  emigrants  themselves  should  nominate,  a  repre- 
sentative assembly,  independent  legislation,  subject  only  to  the 
negative  of  the  proprietaries,  land  at  a  rent  of  a  halfpenny  an 
acre,  and  such  freedom  from  customs  as  the  charter  would 
warrant.  Yet  the  lands  were  not  inviting  to  men  who  could 
choose  their  abodes  from  the  whole  wilderness ;  and,  though 
Massachusetts,  the  young  mother  of  colonies,  in  May,  1667, 
ministered  to  their  wants  by  a  general  contribution  through  her 
settlements,  the  infant  town  planted  on  Oldtown  creek,  near 
the  south  side  of  Cape  Fear  river,  was  soon  after  abandoned. 

The  conditions  offered  to  the  colony  of  Cape  Fear  "  were 
not  intended  for  the  meridian  "  of  Virginia.  "  There,"  said 
the  proprietaries,  in  their  instructions  to  Sir  William  Berke- 
ley, "  we  hope  to  find  more  facile  people  "  than  the  New  Eng- 
land men.  They  intrusted  the  affair  entirely  to  Sir  William's 
management.  He  was  to  get  settlers  as  cheaply  as  possible ; 
yet  at  any  rate  to  get  settlers. 

TOL.  I.— 28 


410    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.   paetii.;  oh.  yii. 

As  in  Massachusetts,  the  plantations  of  Virginia  extended 
along  the  sea.  The  banks  of  Nansemond  river  had  been 
settled  as  early  as  1609.  In  1622,  Pory,  then  secretary  of  the 
Old  Dominion,  travelled  to  the  land  on  the  river  Chowan, 
and,  on  his  return,  celebrated  the  kindness  of  its  native  people, 
its  fertility,  and  happy  climate,  that  yielded  two  harvests  in 
each  year.  Twenty-one  years  after  the  excursion  of  Pory,  a 
company,  that  had  heard  of  the  region  south-west  of  the  Ap- 
pomattox, obtained  leave  of  the  Virginia  legislature  to  engage 
in  its  discovery,  under  the  promise  of  a  fourteen  years'  mo- 
nopoly of  the  profits.  Parties  for  the  south,  not  less  than  for 
the  west,  continued  to  be  encouraged  by  similar  grants.  The 
sons  of  Governor  Yeardley  wrote  to  England  with  pride,  that 
the  northern  country  of  Carolina  had  been  explored  by  "  Vir- 
ginians born." 

A  company  from  Nansemond  county,  led  by  Roger  Green, 
were  the  first  to  show  the  way  from  Virginia  to  the  rivers  that 
flow  into  Albemarle  sound.  Green  was  rewarded,  in  1653,  by 
the  grant  of  a  thousand  acres,  while  ten  thousand  acres  were 
offered  to  any  hundred  persons  who  would  plant  on  the  banks 
of  the  Roanoke,  or  the  south  side  of  the  Chowan  and  its  trib- 
utary streams.  Thomas  Dew,  once  the  speaker  of  the  assembly, 
formed  a  plan  for  exploring  the  navigable  rivers  between  Cape 
Hatteras  and  Cape  Fear.  The  first  settlements  on  Albemarle 
sound  were  a  result  of  spontaneous  overflowings  from  Vir- 
ginia. Perhaps  a  few  families  were  planted  within  the  limits 
of  Carolina  before  the  restoration.  At  that  period,  men  who 
were  impatient  of  enforced  religious  conformity,  and  dis- 
trusted the  new  government  in  Virginia,  plunged  more  deeply 
into  the  forests.  It  is  known  that,  in  1662,  the  chief  of  a 
tribe  of  Indians  granted  to  George  Durant  the  neck  of  land 
which  still  bears  his  name ;  and,  in  the  following  year,  George 
Cathmaid  could  claim  a  large  grant  of  land  upon  the  sound,  for 
having  established  sixty-seven  persons  in  Carolina.  In  Sep- 
tember, the  colony  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  proprie- 
taries ;  and  Berkeley  was  commissioned  to  institute  a  govern- 
ment over  the  region,  which,  in  honor  of  Monk,  received  the 
name  of  Albemarle,  that  time  has  transferred  to  the  bay.  The 
plantations  were  chiefly  on  the  north-east  bank  of  the  Chowan ; 


1663-1668.  LEGISLATION  FOR  CAROLINA.  411 

and,  as  the  mouth  of  that  river  is  north  of  the  thirty-sixth  par- 
allel of  latitude,  they  were  not  included  in  the  first  patent  of 
Carolina.  Yet  Berkeley,  who  was  but  governor  of  Virginia, 
and  was  a  joint  proprietary  of  Carolina,  obeyed  his  interest  as 
landholder  more  than  his  duty  as  governor ;  and,  severing  the 
settlement  from  the  Ancient  Dominion,  established  a  separate 
government  over  men  who  had  already,  at  least  in  part,  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  their  lands  from  the  aboriginal  lords  of  the 
soil.  He  appointed  William  Drummond,  an  emigrant  to  Vir- 
ginia from  Scotland,  a  man  of  prudence  and  po].  larity,  to  be 
the  governor  of  Northern  Carolina;  and,  conforming  to  in- 
structions from  his  associates,  he  instituted  a  simple  form  of 
government,  a  Carolina  assembly,  and  an  easy  tenure  of  lands ; 
leaving  the  infant  people  to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience  and 
to  forget  the  world,  till  quit-rents  should  fall  due.  Such  was 
the  origin  of  fixed  settlements  in  North  Carolina. 

But  not  New  England  and  Virginia  only  turned  their  eyes 
to  the  southern  part  of  our  republic.  In  1663,  several  planters 
of  Barbados,  dissatisfied  with  their  condition,  and  desiring  to 
establish  a  colony  under  their  own  exclusive  direction,  de- 
spatched a  vessel  to  examine  the  country.  The  careful  explor- 
ers reported  that  the  climate  was  agreeable  and  the  soil  of 
various  qualities ;  that  game  abounded  ;  that  the  natives  prom- 
ised peace.  They  purchased  of  the  Indians  a  tract  of  land 
thirty- two  miles  square,  on  Cape  Fear  river,  near  the  neglected 
settlement  of  the  New  Englanders ;  and  their  employers  begged 
of  the  proprietaries  a  confirmation  of  the  purchase  and  a  sep- 
arate charter  of  government.  Not  all  their  request  was 
granted ;  yet  liberal  terms  were  offered ;  and  Sir  John  Yea- 
mans,  the  son  of  a  cavalier,  a  needy  baronet,  who,  to  mend 
his  fortune,  had  become  a  Barbados  planter,  was  appointed 
governor,  with  a  jurisdiction  extending  from  Cape  Fear  to 
the  San  Matheo.  The  country  was  called  Clarendon.  "  Make 
things  easy  to  the  people  of  New  England ;  from  thence  the 
greatest  supplies  are  expected : "  such  were  his  instruc- 
tions. In  the  autumn  of  1665,  under  an  ample  grant  of  liber- 
ties for  the  colony,  he  conducted  a  band  of  emigrants  from 
Barbados,  and  on  the  south  bank  of  Cape  Fear  river  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  town,  which  flourished  so  little  that  its  site  is 


412    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    partil;  oh.  yii. 

at  this  day  a  subject  of  dispute.  Yet  the  colony,  barren  as 
were  the  plains  around  them,  exported  boards  and  shingles 
and  staves  to  Barbados.  The  traffic  was  profitable ;  emigra- 
tion increased  ;  and  it  has  been  said  that,  in  1666,  the  planta- 
tion contained  eight  hundred  souls.  Yeamans,  who  understood 
the  nature  of  colonial  trade,  managed  its  affairs  without  re- 
proach. 

The  proprietaries  of  Carolina,  having  collected  minute  in- 
formation respecting  the  coast,  coveted  an  extension  of  their 
domains.  Indifferent  to  the  claims  of  Virginia,  and  in  con- 
tempt of  the  Spanish  garrison  at  St.  Augustine,  Clarendon  and 
his  associates,  in  June,  1665,  obtained  from  the  king  a  new  char- 
ter, which  granted  to  them  all  the  land  lying  between  twenty- 
nine  degrees  and  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes,  north  lati- 
tude, from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  soil,  and, 
under  the  limitation  of  a  nominal  allegiance,  the  sovereignty, 
were  theirs,  with  the  power  of  legislation,  subject  to  the  con- 
sent of  the  future  freemen  of  the  colony.  The  grant  of  privi- 
leges was  ample,  like  those  to  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut. 
An  express  clause  opened  the  way  for  religious  freedom ; 
another  held  out  to  the  proprietaries  a  hope  of  revenue  from 
colonial  customs,  to  be  imposed  in  colonial  ports  by  Carolina 
legislatures ;  another  gave  them  the  power  of  erecting  cities 
and  manors,  counties  and  baronies,  and  of  establishing  orders 
of  nobility  with  other  than  English  titles.  The  power  to  levy 
troops,  to  erect  fortifications,  to  make  war  by  sea  and  land  on 
their  enemies,  and  to  exercise  martial  law  in  cases  of  necessity, 
was  not  withheld.  Every  favor  was  extended  to  the  proprie- 
taries ;  nothing  was  neglected  but  the  interests  of  the  English 
sovereign  and  the  rights  of  the  colonists.  Imagination  en- 
couraged every  extravagant  hope ;  and  Ashley  Cooper,  after- 
ward earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the  most  active  and  the  most  able 
of  the  corporators,  was,  in  1668,  deputed  by  them  to  frame  for 
the  dawning  states  a  perfect  constitution,  worthy  to  endure 
throughout  all  ages. 

Shaftesbury  was  at  this  time  in  the  maturity  of  his  genius ; 
celebrated  for  eloquence,  philosophic  acuteness,  and  sagacity ; 
high  in  power,  and  of  aspiring  ambition.  Born  to  hereditary 
wealth,  the  pupil  of  Prideaux  had  given  his  early  years  to  the 


1«68.  LEGISLATION  FOR  CAROLINA.  413 

assiduous  pursuit  of  knowledge ;  and  from  boyhood  the  intel- 
lectual part  of  his  nature  held  the  mastery.  Cradled  in  poli- 
tics and  chosen  a  member  of  parliament  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, his  long  public  career  was  checkered  by  the  greatest 
varieties  of  success.  His  party  connections  were  affected  by 
the  revolutions  of  the  times ;  and  he  has  been  charged  with 
political  inconsistency.  But  men  of  great  mental  power, 
though  they  may  often  change  their  instruments,  change  their 
principles  and  their  objects  rarely.  He  often  shifted  his  asso- 
ciates, never  his  purposes ;  alike  the  enemy  to  absolute  mon- 
archy and  to  democratic  influence,  he  connected  his  own 
aggrandizement  with  the  privileges  and  interests  of  British 
commerce,  of  Protestant  religious  liberty,  and  of  the  landed 
aristocracy  of  England.  In  the  Long  Parliament,  he  acted 
with  the  people  against  absolute  power ;  but,  while  Yane  ad- 
hered to  the  parliament  from  love  of  popular  rights,  Shaftes- 
bury adhered  to  it  as  the  guardian  of  aristocratic  liberty. 
Under  Cromwell,  Shaftesbury  was  still  the  opponent  of  arbi- 
trary power.  At  the  restoration,  he  would  not  tolerate  an 
agreement  with  the  king ;  such  agreement,  at  that  time,  could 
not  but  have  been  democratic ;  and  the  nobility  sought,  in  the 
plenitude  of  the  royal  power,  an  ally  against  the  people.  When 
Charles  II.  showed  a  disposition  to  become,  like  Louis  XIY., 
superior  to  the  gentry  as  well  as  to  the  democracy,  Shaftesbury, 
from  hostility  to  the  supporters  of  prerogative,  joined  the 
party  opposed  to  the  ultra  royalists.  The  party  which  he  rep- 
resented, the  great  aristocracy  of  blood  and  of  wealth,  had  to 
sustain  itself  between  the  people  on  one  side  and  the  monarch 
on  the  other.  The  "  nobility  "  was,  in  his  view,  the  "  rock  "  of 
"  English  principles ; "  the  power  of  the  peerage  and  of  arbi- 
trary monarchy  were  "  as  two  buckets,  of  which  one  goes  down 
exactly  as  the  other  goes  up."  In  the  people  of  England,  as 
the  depository  of  power  and  freedom,  Shaftesbury  had  no  con- 
fidence; his  system  protected  wealth  and  privilege;  and  he 
desired  to  intrust  the  conservative  principles  of  society  to  the 
exclusive  custody  of  the  favored  classes.  Cromwell  had  pro- 
posed, and  Yane  had  advocated,  a  reform  in  parliament; 
Shaftesbury  showed  no  disposition  to  diminish  the  influence  of 
the  nobility  over  the  lower  house. 


414  BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  yh. 

The  personal  character  of  Shaftesbury  was  analogous  to  his 
political  principles.  He  loved  wealth  without  being  a  slave  to. 
avarice,  and,  though  he  would  have  made  no  scruple  of  "  rob- 
bing the  devil  or  the  altar,"  and,  as  lord  chancellor,  sometimes 
received  a  present,  his  judgment  was  never  suspected  of  a  bias. 
Careless  of  precedents,  usages,  and  bar-rules,  he  was  quick  to 
discern  the  right,  and  to  render  an  equitable  decision.  Every- 
body applauded  but  the  lawyers ;  they  censured  the  contempt 
of  ancient  forms,  the  diminished  weight  of  authority,  and  the 
neglect  of  legal  erudition ;  the  historians,  the  poets,  common 
fame,  even  his  enemies,  declared  that  never  had  a  judge  pos- 
sessed more  discerning  eyes  or  cleaner  hands  : 

"  Unbribed,  unbought,  the  wretched  to  redress, 
Swift  of  despatch  and  easy  of  access." 
Nobody  questioned  that,  as  a  royalist  minister,  he  might  have 
"  freely  gathered  the  golden  fruit ; "  but  he  disdained  the 
monarch's  favor,  and  stood  firmly  by  the  vested  rights  of  his 
order. 

In  person  he  was  small,  and  alike  irritable  and  versatile. 
It  belongs  to  such  a  man  to  have  cunning  rather  than  wisdom ; 
celerity  rather  than  dignity ;  the  high  powers  of  abstraction 
and  generalization  rather  than  the  still  higher  power  of  suc- 
cessful action.  He  transacted  business  with  an  admirable  ease 
and  mastery,  for  his  lucid  understanding  delighted  in  general 
principles ;  but  he  could  not  successfully  control  men,  for  he 
had  neither  conduct  in  the  direction  of  a  party  nor  integrity 
in  the  choice  of  means.  He  would  use  a  prejudice  as  soon  as 
an  argument ;  would  stimulate  a  superstition  as  soon  as  wake 
truth  to  the  battle;  would  flatter  a  crowd  or  court  a  king. 
Despising  the  people,  he  attempted  to  guide  them  by  inflaming 
their  passions. 

This  contempt  for  humanity  punishes  itself  ;  Shaftesbury 
was  destitute  of  the  healthy  judgment  which  comes  from 
sympathy  with  his  fellow-men.  Alive  to  the  force  of  an  argu- 
ment, he  never  could  judge  of  its  effect  on  other  minds ;  his 
subtle  wit,  prompt  to  seize  on  the  motives  to  conduct  and  the 
natural  affinities  of  parties,  could  not  discern  the  noral  obsta- 
cles to  new  combinations.  He  had  no  natural  se:  i  of  propri- 
ety ;  he  despised  gravity  as,  what  indeed  it  oftet  is,  the  affec- 


i 


1668-1669.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  415 

tation  of  dulness,  and  thought  it  no  condescension  to  charm 
by  drollery.  Himself  without  veneration  for  prescriptive 
usage,  he  never  could  estimate  the  difficulty  of  abrogating  a 
form  or  overcoming  a  prejudice.  His  mind  regarded  purposes 
and  results,  and  he  did  not  so  mucli  defy  appearances  as  rest 
ignorant  of  their  power.  Desiring  to  exclude  the  duke  of 
York  from  the  throne,  no  delicacy  of  sentiment  restrained  him 
from  proposing  the  succession  to  the  uncertain  issue  of  an 
abandoned  woman,  who  had  once  been  mistress  to  the  king, 
and  he  saw  no  cruelty  in  urging  Charles  II.  to  divorce  a  con- 
fiding wife,  who  had  the  blemish  of  barrenness. 

The  same  want  of  common  feeling,  joined  to  a  surprising 
mobility,  left  Shaftesbury  in  ignorance  of  the  energy  of  relig- 
ious convictions.  Skeptics  are  apt  to  be  superstitious  ;  the 
moral  restlessness  of  perpetual  doubt  often  superinduces  nerv- 
ous timidity.  Shaftesbury  would  not  fear  God,  but  he  watched 
the  stars ;  he  did  not  receive  Christianity,  and  he  could  not 
reject  astrology. 

Excellent  in  counsel,  Shaftesbury  was  poor  as  an  executive 
agent.  His  spirit  fretted  at  delay,  and  grew  feverish  with 
waiting.  His  eager  impetuosity  betrayed  his  designs,  and, 
when  unoccupied,  his  vexed  and  anxious  mind  lost  its  balance, 
and  planned  desperate  counsels.  In  times  of  tranquilh'ty,  he 
was  too  restless  for  success ;  but,  when  the  storm  was  really 
come,  and  old  landmarks  were  washed  away  and  the  wonted 
lights  in  the  heavens  were  darkened,  Shaftesbury  was  self- 
possessed,  and  knew  how  to  evolve  a  rule  of  conduct  from 
general  principles. 

At  a  time  when  John  Locke  was  unknown  to  the  world, 
Shaftesbury  detected  the  riches  of  his  mind,  and  chose  him 
for  a  friend  and  adviser  in  the  work  of  legislation  for  Carolina. 
Locke  was  at  this  time  in  the  midway  of  life,  adorning  the 
clearest  understanding  with  gentleness,  good  humor,  and  in- 
genuousness. Of  a  sunny  disposition,  he  could  be  choleric 
without  malice,  and  gay  without  levity.  He  was  a  most  duti- 
ful son.  In  dialectics  he  was  unparalleled,  except  by  his 
patron.  Fateeming  the  pursuit  of  truth  as  the  first  object  of 
life,  and  iu  attainment  as  the  criterion  of  dignity,  he  never 
sacrificed  a  ^nviction  to  an  interest.     The  ill  success  of  the 


I 


4:16   BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paeth.;  ch.  vir. 

democratic  revolution  of  England  had  made  him  an  enemy  to 
popular  innovations.  He  had  seen  the  commons  of  England 
incapable  of  retaining  the  precious  conquest  they  had  made, 
and,  being  neither  a  theorist  like  Milton  nor  a  tory  like  Til- 
lotson,  he  cherished  what,  at  that  day,  were  called  English 
principles,  looking  to  the  aristocracy  as  the  surest  adversaries 
of  arbitrary  power.  Emphatically  free  from  avarice,  he  could 
yet,  as  a  political  writer,  deify  liberty  under  the  form  of 
wealth ;  to  him  slavery  seemed  no  unrighteous  institution ; 
and  he  defines  "  political  power  to  be  the  right  of  making 
laws  for  regulating  and  preserving  property."  Having  no 
kindling  love  for  ideal  excellence,  he  abhorred  the  designs 
and  disbelieved  the  promises  of  democracy;  he  could  sneer 
at  the  enthusiasm  of  Friends.  Unlike  Penn,  he  believed 
it  possible  to  construct  the  future  according  to  the  forms  of 
the  past.  'No  voice  of  God  within  his  soul  called  him  away 
from  the  usages  of  England ;  and,  as  he  went  forth  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  civil  government  in  the  wilderness,  he 
bowed  his  understanding  tg-  the  persuasive  influence  of 
Shaftesbury.  But  the  political  institutions  of  the  United 
States  were  not  formed  by  giant  minds,  or  "  nobles  after  the 
flesh."  American  history  knows  but  one  avenue  to  success  in 
American  legislation — freedom  from  ancient  prejudice.  The 
truly  great  law-givers  in  our  colonies  first  became  as  little 
children. 

In  framing  constitutions  for  Carolina,  Locke  forgot  that 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  creation  of  laws ;  for  laws  are 
but  the  arrangement  of  men  in  society,  and  good  laws  are  but 
the  arrangement  of  men  in  society  in  their  just  and  natural 
relations.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  self-government  that  it 
adapts  itself  to  every  circumstance  which  can  arise.  Its  insti- 
tutions, if  often  defective,  are  always  appropriate;  for  they 
are  the  exact  representation  of  the  condition  of  a  people,  and 
can  be  evil  only  because  there  are  evils  in  society,  exactly  as  a 
coat  may  suit  an  ill-shaped  person.  Habits  of  thought  and 
action  fix  their  stamp  on  the  public  code  ;  the  faith,  the  preju- 
dices, the  hopes  of  a  people,  may  be  read  there  ;  and,  as  knowl- 
edge advances,  each  erroneous  judgment,  each  perverse  enact- 
ment, yields  to  the  embodied  force  of  the  common  will.  Success 


1669.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  417 

in  legislating  for  Carolina  could  only  have  resulted  from  tlie 
counsels  of  the  emigrants  themselves. 

The  constitutions  for  Carolina  are  the  most  signal  attempt 
within  the  United  States  to  connect  political  power  with 
hereditary  wealth.  America  was  rich  in  every  form  of  repre- 
sentative government ;  its  political  life  w^as  so  varied  that,  in 
modern  constitutions,  hardly  a  method  of  constituting  an 
upper  or  a  popular  house  has  thus  far  been  suggested,  of 
which  the  character  and  the  operation  had  not  already  been 
tested  in  the  experience  of  our  fathers.  In  Carolina  the  dis- 
putes of  a  thousand  years  were  crowded  into  a  generation. 

Europe  suffered  from  obsolete  but  not  inoperative  laws ; 
no  statute  of  Carolina  was  to  bind  beyond  a  century ;  Europe 
suffered  from  the  multiplication  of  law-books  and  the  perplexi- 
ties of  the  law ;  in  Carolina  not  a  commentary  might  be  writ- 
ten on  the  constitutions,  the  statutes,*  or  the  common  law; 
Europe  suffered  from  the  furies  of  bigotry  ;  Carolina  promised 
toleration  to  "  Jews,  heathens,  and  other  dissenters,"  to  "  men 
of  any  religion."  In  other  respects,  "the  interests  of  the  pro- 
prietors," the  desire  of  "  a  government  most  agreeable  to  mon- 
archy," and  the  dread  of  "  a  numerous  democracy,"  are  avowed 
as  the  motives  for  forming  the  fundamental  constitutions  of 
Carolina. 

The  proprietaries,  as  sovereigns,  were  a  close  corporation 
of  eight  members ;  a  number  which  was  never  to  be  dimin- 
ished or  increased.  The  dignity  was  hereditary ;  in  default  of 
heirs,  the  survivors  elected  a  successor.  The  body  was  seK- 
renewing  and  immortal. 

For  purposes  of  settlement,  the  almost  boundless  territory 
was  to  be  divided  into  counties,  each  containing  four  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  acres.  The  creation  of  two  orders  of 
nobility — one  landgrave  or  earl,  and  two  caciques  or  barons 
for  each  county — preceded  the  distribution  of  lands  into  five 
•equal  parts,  of  which  one  remained  the  inalienable  property  of 
the  proprietaries,  and  another  formed  the  inalienable  and  in- 
divisible estates  of  the  nobility.  The  remaining  three  fifths 
were  reserved  for  what  was  called  the  people ;  and  might  be 
held  by  lords  of  manors  who  were  not  hereditary  legislators, 
but,  like  the  nobility,  might  exercise  judicial  powers  in  their 


418   BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  n. ;  ch.  vii, 

baronial  courts.  The  number  of  the  nobility  might  neither 
be  increased  nor  diminished ;  election  supplied  the  places  left 
vacant  for  want  of  heirs ;  for,  by  an  agrarian  principle,  estates 
and  dignities  were  not  allowed  to  accumulate. 

The  instinct  of  aristocracy  dreads  the  moral  power  of  pro- 
prietary cultivators  of  the  soil ;  their  perpetual  degi-adation 
was  enacted.  The  leet-men,  or  tenants,  holding  ten  acres  of 
land  at  a  fixed  rent,  were  to  be  not  only  destitute  of  political 
franchises,  but  adscripts  to  the  soil ;  ''  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  their  lord,  without  appeal ; "  and  it  was  added,  "  all  the 
children  of  leet-men  shall  be  leet-men,  and  so  to  all  genera- 
tions." 

Grotius  had  defended  slavery  as  a  rightful  condition;  a 
few  years  later,  William  Penn  owned  African  bondmen ; 
Locke  proposed,  without  compunction,  that  every  freeman  of 
Carolina  should  have  absolute  power  and  authority  over  his 
negro  slaves. 

By  the  side  of  the  seigniories,  baronies,  and  manors,  room 
was  left  for  freeholders ;  but  no  elective  franchise  could  be 
conferred  on  a  freeholder  of  less  than  fifty  acres,  and  no 
eligibility  to  the  parliament  on  a  freehold  of  less  than  five 
hundred. 

All  executive  power,  and,  in  the  last  resort,  all  judiciary 
power,  rested  with  the  proprietaries  themselves.  The  seven 
subordinate  courts  had  each  a  proprietary  for  its  chief ;  and, 
of  the  forty-two  counsellors  of  whom  they  were  composed, 
twenty-eight  were  appointed  by  the  proprietaries  of  the  no- 
bility. The  judiciary  was  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  popular 
influence.  To  one  aristocratic  court  was  intrusted  the  super- 
intendence of  the  press ;  and,  as  if  not  only  men  would  submit 
their  minds,  but  women  their  tastes,  and  children  their  pas- 
times, to  a  tribunal,  another  court  had  cognizance  of  "  cere- 
monies and  pedigrges,  of  fashions  and,  sports."  Of  the  fifty 
who  composed  the  grand  council  of  Carolina,  fourteen  only 
represented  the  commons,  and  of  these  the  tenurQ^iJ  oflSice 
was  for  life. 

The  constitutions  recognised  four  estates — the  proprietaries, 
the  landgraves,  the  caciques,  and  the  commons.  In  the  par- 
liament all  the  estates  assembled  in  one  chamber ;  the  propria- 


1669.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  419 

taries  appear  bj  deputies;  the  commons  elected  four  mem- 
bers for  every  three  of  the  nobility ;  but  large  proprietors 
were  alone  eligible.  An  aristocratic  majority  might,  there- 
fore, always  be  relied  upon;  but,  to  prevent  danger,  three 
methods,  reproduced  in  part  in  modern  monarchical  constitu- 
tions, were  adopted :  the  proprietaries  reserved  to  themselves 
a  negative  on  all  the  proceedings  of  parliament ;  no  measure 
could  be  initiated,  except  through  the  grand  council ;  and, 
in  case  of  constitutional  objection  to  a  law,  either  of  the  four 
estates  might  interpose  a  veto.  Popular  enfranchisement  was 
made  an  impossibility.  Executive,  judicial,  and  legislative 
power  was  each  beyond  the  control  of  the  people. 

In  trials  by  jury  the  majority  decided — a  rule  dangerous 
to  the  oppressed  ;  for,  where  moral  courage  is  requisite  for  an 
acquittal,  more  than  a  small  minority  cannot  always  be  ex- 
pected. A  clause,  which  declared  it  "  a  base  and  vile  thing  to 
plead  for  money  or  reward,"  could  not  but  compel  the  less 
educated  classes  to  establish  between  themselves  and  the  no- 
bility the  relation  of  clients  and  patrons. 

Such  were  the  constitutions  devised  for  Carolina  by  Shaftes- 
bury and  Locke,  by  the  statesman  who  was  the  type  of  the 
revolution  of  1688,  and  the  sage  who  was  the  antagonist  of 
Leibnitz  and  William  Penn.  Several  American  writers  have 
attempted  to  exonerate  Locke  from  a  share  in  the  work  which 
they  condemn  ;  but  it  harmonizes  with  the  principles  of  his 
philosophy  and  with  his  theories  on  government.  To  his  late 
old  age  he  preserved  the  evidence  of  his  legislative  labors ; 
and  his  admirers  esteemed  him  the  superior  of  the  contempo- 
rary Quaker  king,  the  rival  of  "  the  ancient  philosophers  "  to 
whom  the  world  had  "  erected  statues." 

The  constitutions  were  signed  on  the  twenty-first  of  July, 
1669.  In  a  second  draft,  against  the  wishes  of  Locke,  a  clause 
was  interpolated,  declaring  that,  while  every  religion  should 
be  tolerated,  the  church  of  England,  as  the  only  true  and 
orthodox  church,  was  to  be  the  national  religion  of  Carolina, 
and  was  alone  to  receive  public  maintenance  by  grants  from 
the  colonial  parliament.  This  revised  copy  of  "  the  model " 
was  not  signed  till  March,  1670.  To  a  colony  of  which  the 
majority  were  likely  to  be  dissenters,  the  change  was  vital ;  it 


420    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    part  n. ;  ch.  vii. 

was  scarcely  noticed  in  England,  where  the  model  became  the 
theme  of  extravagant  applause.  "It  is  without  compare," 
wrote  Blome,  in  16Y2.  "Empires,"  added  an  admirer  of 
Shaftesbury,  "  will  be  ambitious  of  subjection  to  the  noble  gov- 
ernment which  deep  wisdom  has  projected  for  Carolina ;  "  and 
the  proprietaries  set  their  seals  to  "  a  sacred  and  unalterable  " 
instrument,  which  they  decreed  should  endure  "  for  ever." 

As  far  as  depended  upon  the  proprietaries,  the  government 
was  immediately  organized  with  Monk,  duke  of  Albemarle, 
as  palatine.  But  was  there  place  for  a  palatine  and  landgraves, 
for  barons  and  lords  of  manors,  for  an  admiralty  court  and  a 
court  of  heraldry,  among  the  scattered  cabins  between  the 
Chowan  and  the  ocean  ? 

Albemarle  had,  in  1665,  been  increased  by  fresh  emigrants 
from  Kew  England,  and,  two  years  later,  by  a  colony  of  ship- 
builders from  the  Bermudas,  who  lived  contentedly  with  Ste- 
vens as  chief  magistrate,  under  a  very  wise  and  simple  form 
of  government.  A  council  of  twelve — six  named  by  the  pro- 
prietaries, and  six  chosen  by  the  assembly;  an  assembly  com- 
posed of  the  governor,  the  council,  and  twelve  delegates  from 
the  freeholders  of  the  incipient  settlements — formed  a  govern- 
ment which  enjoyed  popular  confidence.  No  interference 
from  abroad  was  anticipated ;  for  freedom  of  religion  and 
security  against  taxation  except  by  the  colonial  legislature 
were  conceded.  The  colonists  were  satisfied ;  the  more  so 
as,  in  1668,  their  lands  were  confirmed  to  them  on  their  own 
terms. 

The  authentic  record  of  the  legislative  historj^  of  ITorth 
Carolina  begins  with  the  autumn  of  1669,  when  the  represen- 
tatives of  Albemarle,  ignorant  of  the  scheme  which  Locke  and 
Shaftesbury  were  maturing,  gave  a  JiYe  years'  security  to  the 
emigrant  debtor  against  any  cause  of  action  arising  out  of  the 
country ;  made  marriage  a  civil  contract,  requiring  only  the 
consent  of  parties  before  a  magistrate ;  exempted  new  settlers 
from  taxation  for  a  year ;  prohibited  strangers  from  trading 
with  the  neighboring  Indians,  and  granted  land  to  every  ad- 
venturer who  joined  the  colony,  but  withholding  a  perfect 
title  till  after  a  residence  of  two  years.  The  members  of  this 
early  legislature  probably  received  no  compensation ;  to  meet 


1669-1672.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  421 

the  expenses  of  the  governor  and  council,  a  fee  of  thirty- 
pounds  of  tobacco  was  exacted  in  every  lawsuit.  The  law3 
were  sufficient,  were  confirmed  by  the  proprietaries,  were  re- 
enacted  in  1715,  and  were  valid  in  North  Carolina  for  more 
than  half  a  century. 

Hardly  had  these  laws  been  established  when  the  new 
constitution  was  forwarded  to  Albemarle.  Its  promulgation 
did  but  favor  anarchy  by  invalidating  the  existing  system, 
which  it  could  not  replace.  The  proprietaries,  contrary  to 
stipulations  with  the  colonists,  superseded  the  existing  govern- 
ment, and  the  colonists  resolutely  rejected  the  substitute. 

Far  different  was  the  welcome  with  which  the  inhabitants 
of  North  Carolina  met  the  first  messengers  of  religion.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  settlement  there  seems  not  to  have  been 
a  minister  in  the  land ;  there  was  no  public  worship  but  such 
as  burst  from  the  heart  when  natural  feeling  took  the  form  of 
words.  But  man  is  prone  to  religious  impressions,  and  when 
William  Edmundson  in  1672  came  to  visit  his  Quaker  brethren 
among  the  groves  of  Albemarle,  "  he  met  with  a  tender  peo- 
ple," delivered  his  instructions  as  supported  by  the  authority 
of  self-evident  truth,  and  added  converts  to  the  society  of 
Friends.  A  quarterly  meeting  of  discipline  was  established, 
and  the  society,  of  which  opposition  to  spiritual  authority  is 
the  badge,  was  the  first  to  organize  a  religious  community  in 
Carolina. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  George  Fox — the  father 
of  the  sect,  the  upright  man  who  could  say  of  himself, 
"  What  I  am  in  words,  I  am  the  same  in  life  " — travelled  across 
"  the  great  bogs "  of  the  Dismal  Swamp,  commonly  "  lying 
abroad  a-nights  in  the  woods  by  a  fire,"  till  at  last  he  reached 
a  house  in  Carolina,  and  obtained  the  luxury  of  a  mat  by  the 
fireside.  He  was  made  welcome  to  the  refuge  of  Quakers 
and  fugitives  from  ecclesiastical  oppression.  The  people 
"  lived  lonely  in  the  woods,"  with  no  other  guardian  to  their 
solitary  houses  than  a  watch-dog.  There  have  been  religious 
communities  which,  binding  themselves  by  a  vow  to  a  life  of 
study  and  reflection,  have  planted  their  monasteries  in  the  re- 
cesses of  the  desert,  where  they  might  best  lift  up  their  hearts 
to  contemplative  enjoyments.     Here  were  men  from  civilized 


422   BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paeth.;  ch.  tii. 

life,  scattered  among  the  forests,  hermits  with  wives  and  chil- 
dren, resting  on  the  bosom  of  nature,  in  harmony  with  the 
wilderness  of  their  gentle  clime.  With  absolute  freedom  of 
conscience,  reason  and  good- will  to  man  were  the  simple  rule 
of  their  conduct.  Such  was  the  people  to  whom  George  Fox 
"  opened  many  things  concerning  the  light  and  spirit  of  God 
that  is  in  every  one."  He  became  the  guest  of  the  governor 
of  the  province,  who,  with  his  wife,  "  received  him  lovingly." 
The  plantations  of  that  day  were  upon  the  bay,  and  along  the 
streams  that  flow  into  it ;  the  rivers  and  the  inlets  were  the 
highways  of  Carolina ;  the  boat  and  the  lighter  birchen  skiff 
the  only  equipage ;  every  man  knew  how  to  handle  the  oar ; 
and  there  was  hardly  a  woman  but  could  paddle  a  canoe. 
When  Fox  continued  his  journey,  the  governor,  having  been 
admonished  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  truth  in  the  oracles  of 
nature,  accompanied  him  to  the  water's  edge,  and,  as  the  chief 
magistrate  of  ^N^orth  Carolina  and  the  envoy  of  humanity 
travelled  together  on  foot  through  the  ancient  woods,  it  might 
indeed  have  seemed,  rather  than  in  the  companionship  of 
Shaftesbury  and  Locke,  that  the  days  of  the  legislation  of  phi- 
losophy were  revived.  For  in  the  character  of  his  wisdom,  in 
the  method  of  its  acquisition  by  deep  feeling,  reflection,  and 
travel,  and  in  its  fruits,  George  Fox  far  more  nearly  resem- 
bled the  ancient  sages,  the  peers  of  Thales  and  Solon,  whom 
common  fame  has  immortalized.  From  the  house  of  the 
governor,  the  traveller  continued  his  journey  to  the  residence 
of  "  Joseph  Scot,  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  country," 
where  he  had  "a  sound  and  precious  meeting"  with  the  peo- 
ple. His  eloquence  reached  their  hearts ;  for  he  did  but  assert 
the  paramount  value  of  the  impulses  and  feelings  which  had 
guided  them  in  the  wilderness.  He  "  had  a  sense  of  all  con- 
ditions ; "  for,  "  how  else  could  he  have  spoken  to  all  con- 
ditions ? "  At  another  meeting,  "  the  chief  secretary  of  the 
province,"  who  "  had  been  formerly  convinced,"  was  present ; 
and  Fox  became  his  guest,  yet  not  without  "  much  ado ; "  for, 
as  the  boat  approached  his  plantation,  it  grounded  in  the  shal- 
low channel,  and  could  not  be  brought  to  shore.  But  the  wife 
of  the  secretary  of  state  shot  promptly  to  the  traveller's  relief 
in  a  canoe,  and  brought  him  to  her  hospitable  home.     As  he 


1672-1677.  LEGISLATION  FOR   CAROLINA.  423 

turned  again  toward  Virginia,  lie  could  say  that  he  had  found 
the  people  of  North  Carolina  "  generally  tender  and  open  ; " 
and  that  he  had  made  among  them  "  a  little  entrance  for 
truth." 

While  it  was  uncertain  what  was  the  government  of  North 
Carolina,  the  country,  in  1674,  was  left  without  a  governor  by 
the  death  of  Stevens.  The  assembly,  conforming  to  a  prudent 
instruction  of  the  proprietaries,  elected  a  successor ;  and  Cart- 
wright,  their  speaker,  acted  for  two  years  at  the  head  of  the 
administration.  Persons  into  whose  hands  the  proprietaries 
had  committed  the  government  interfered  with  violence  and 
injustice  to  prevent  the  progress  of  discovery  and  colonization 
to  the  southward ;  and  those  who  had  planted  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Chowan  and  the  Roanoke  were  commanded  back, 
to  their  great  prejudice  and  inconvenience.  Moreover,  fears 
prevailed  that  "  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  become  the  sole 
proprietary  "  of  that  part  of  Carolina.  Moved  "  by  these  ap- 
prehensions and  the  conjunction  of  the  times,"  the  North 
Carolinians  themselves  "  ordered  and  settled  the  council  and 
government,"  until  an  appeal  could  be  taken  to  the  proprieta- 
ries. To  them,  Thomas  Miller  carried  letters  from  the  self- 
constituted  government  of  Albemarle ;  and  Eastchurch,  the 
new  speaker  of  the  assembly,  followed  as  its  agent  to  explain 
the  public  grievances.  The  proprietaries,  after  some  of  them 
had  "  discoursed  with  "  Eastchurch  and  Miller,  wrote  to  the 
assembly  :  "  They  have  fully  satisfied  us  that  the  fault  was  not 
in  you,  but  in  those  persons  into  whose  hands  we  committed 
the  government."  They  gave  their  promise  "not  to  part  with 
the  county  of  Albemarle  to  any  person,  but  to  maintain  the 
province  of  Carolina  entire  as  it  was,  that  they  might  preserve 
the  inhabitants  in  English  rights  and  liberties."  Instead  of 
insisting  on  the  introduction  of  the  grand  model,  they  restored 
the  simple  government  which  had  existed  in  the  beginning  of 
the  settlement. 

For  governor  of  Albemarle,  they  selected  Eastchurch  him- 
self, "  because,"  they  said,  "  he  seems  to  us  a  very  discreet  and 
worthy  man,  and  very  much  concerned  for  your  prosperity  and 
welfare,  and,  by  the  opportunity  of  his  being  here,  is  well  in- 
structed in  our  desires."     For  the  grand  council  they  named 


424  BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  vii. 

their  own  deputies,  and  invited  the  assembly  to  choose  as  many 
more.  "While  they  praised  the  good  disposition  of  the  North 
Carolinians  to  administer  "  fair  justice  among  themselves," 
they  added :  *'  We  utterly  dislike  trying  or  condemning  any 
person,  either  in  criminal  or  civil  causes,  without  a  jury ;  and 
evidence  clandestinely  taken  can  be  of  no  validity  otherwise 
than  to  cause  the  criminal  person  to  be  secured,  where  the 
crime  is  of  a  high  nature."  They  desired  to  connect  their  own 
interests  with  those  of  the  colony,  and  were  willing  to  approve 
any  measures  that  the  assembly  might  propose  for  extending 
colonization  on  the  Pamlico  and  the  l^euse,  and  opening  con- 
nection by  land  with  plantations  in  South  Carolina.^ 

They  attempted  to  restrain  the  scattered  manner  of  life  of 
the  colonists.  "Without  towns,"  they  wrote,  "you  will  not 
long  continue  civilized,  or  even  be  considerable  or  secure." 
Miller,  who  had  been  the  bearer  of  their  letters,  was  appointed 
secretary  of  the  province ;  while  the  complaints  which  he  had 
made  were  referred  to  the  council  and  assembly  in  the  place. 
Miller  received  from  the  crown  a  commission  as  collector  of 
the  customs. 

The  new  officers  embarked  for  Carolina  by  way  of  the 
West  Indies,  where  Eastchurch  remained  for  a  season ;  while 
Miller,  in  July,  1677,  proceeded  to  the  province  to  hold  the 
triple  office  of  president  or  governor,  secretary,  and  collector. 

The  government  had  for  about  a  year  been  left  in  what 
royalists  called  "  ill  order  and  worse  hands ; "  that  is,  it  had 
been  a  government  of  the  people  themselves.  The  suppres- 
sion of  a  fierce  insurrection  in  Yirginia  had  been  followed  by 
vindictive  punishments  ;  and  "  runaways,  rogues,  and  rebels  " — 
that  is  to  say,  fugitives  from  arbitrary  tribunals,  non-conform- 
ists, and  friends  to  liberty — "  fled  daily  to  Carolina,  as  their 
common  subterfuge  and  lurking-place."  Did  letters  from 
Yirginia  demand  the  surrender  of  leaders  in  the  rebellion, 
Carolina  refused  to  betray  the  fugitives. 

The  presence  of  such  emigrants  made  oppression  more 
difficult  than  ever ;  but  here,  as  throughout  the  colonies,  the 
navigation  acts  were  the  cause  for  greater  restlessness  and 
more  permanent  discontent.  And  never  did  national  avarice 
exhibit  itself  more  meanly  than  in  the  relations  of  English 


1677-1680.  LEGISLATION  FOR  CAROLINA.  425 

legislation  to  North  Carolina.  The  district  hardly  contained 
four  thousand  inhabitants  ;  a  few  fat  cattle,  a  little  maize,  and 
eight  hundred  hogsheads  of  tobacco,  formed  all  their  exports ; 
their  humble  commerce  had  attracted  none  but  sinall  craft 
from  New  England ;  and  the  mariners  of  Boston,  guiding 
their  vessels  through  the  narrow  entrances  of  the  bay,  brought 
to  the  doors  of  the  planters  the  few  foreign  articles  which  the 
exchange  of  their  produce  could  purchase.  And  yet  this  in- 
considerable traffic,  so  little  alluring,  but  so  convenient  to  the 
colonists,  was  envied  by  the  English  merchant ;  the  law  of 
1672  was  to  be  enforced ;  the  traders  of  Boston  were  to  be 
crowded  from  the  market  by  an  unreasonable  duty ;  and  the 
planters  to  send  their  produce  to  England  as  they  could. 

How  unwelcome,  then,  must  have  been  the  presence  of 
Miller,  who  levied  the  hateful  tribute  of  a  penny  on  every 
pound  of  tobacco  exported  to  New  England !  It  was  attempt- 
ed to  foster  a  jealousy  of  the  northern  colonies.  But  never 
did  one  American  colony  repine  at  the  prosperity  of  another. 
The  traffic  with  Boston  continued,  though  burdened  with  a 
tax  which  produced  an  annual  revenue  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  an  enormous  burden  for  the  petty  commerce  and  the 
few  inhabitants  of  that  day. 

The  planters  of  Albemarle  were  tranquil  when  they  were 
left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Any  government  imposed 
from  abroad  was  hard  to  be  borne.  The  attempt,  at  enforcing 
the  navigation  acts  hastened  an  insurrection,  which  was  fos- 
tered by  the  refugees  from  Virginia  and  the  New  England 
men.  Excessive  taxation,  the  change  in  the  form  of  govern- 
ment with  the  "  denial  of  a  free  election  of  an  assembly," 
and  the  unwise  interruption  of  the  natural  channels  of  com- 
merce, were  the  threefold  grievances  of  the  colony.  Its 
leader  in  the  insurrection  was  John  Culpepper,  one  of  those 
"  very  ill  men "  who  loved  popular  liberty,  and  whom  the 
royalists  of  that  day  denounced  as  having  merited  "hang- 
ing, for  endeavoring  to  set  the  poor  people  to  plunder  the 
rich."  One  of  the  counsellors  joined  in  the  rebellion ;  the 
rest,  with  Miller,  were  imprisoned ;  "  that  thereby  the  coun- 
try may  have  a  free  parliament,  and  may  send  home  their 
grievances."     Having  deposed  and  imprisoned  the  president 

VOL.  I. — 29 


4:26   BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  vil 

and  the  deputies  of  the  proprietaries,  and  set  at  naught 
the  acts  of  parliament,  the  people  recovered  from  anarchy, 
organized  a  government,  and  established  courts  of  justice. 
Eastchurch  arrived  in  Virginia ;  but  his  commission  and  au- 
thority were  derided,  and  he  himself  was  kept  out  by  force 
of  arms  ;  while  the  insurgents,  among  whom  was  George 
Durant,  the  oldest  landholder  in  Albemarle,  having,  in  1679, 
completed  their  institutions,  sent  Culpepper  and  another  to 
England  to  negotiate  a  compromise. 

The  late  president  and  his  fellow-sufferers,  having  escaped 
from  confinement  in  Carolina,  appeared  in  England  with  ad- 
verse complaints.  To  a  struggle  between  the  planters  and  the 
proprietaries,  the  English  public  would  have  been  indifferent ; 
but  Miller,  as  the  champion  of  the  navigation  acts,  enlisted  in 
his  favor  the  jealous  anger  of  the  mercantile  cities.  Culpep- 
per, just  as  he  was  embarking  for  America,  was  taken  into  cus- 
tody, and  his  interference  with  the  collecting  of  duties,  which 
he  was  charged  with  embezzling  and  which  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  he  had  applied  to  other  than  public  purposes,  stimu- 
lated a  prosecution ;  while  his  opposition  to  the  proprietaries 
was  held  to  justify  an  indictment  for  an  act  of  high  treason, 
committed  without  the  realm. 

A  statute  of  Henry  YIII.  was  the  authority  for  arraigning 
a  colonist  before  an  English  jury,  an  act  of  tyranny  against 
which  Culpepper  vainly  protested,  claiming  "to  be  tried  in 
Carolina,  where  the  offence  was  committed."  "  Let  no  favor 
be  shown  him,"  said  Lauderdale  and  the  lords  of  the  planta- 
tions. But,  when  in  June,  1680,  he  was  brought  up  for  trial, 
Shaftesbury,  who  at  that  time  was  in  the  zenith  of  popularity, 
courted  every  form  of  popular  influence,  and  penetrated  the 
injustice  of  the  accusation,  appeared  in  his  defence  and  pro- 
cured his  acquittal.  The  insurrection  in  Carolina  was  excused 
by  the  verdict  of  an  English  jury. 

It  was  a  natural  expedient  to  send  one  of  the  proprietaries 
themselves  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  company;  and 
Seth  Sothel,  who  had  purchased  the  rights  of  Lord  Clarendon, 
was  selected  for  the  purpose.  But  Sothel,  on  his  voyage,  was 
taken  captive  by  the  Algerines.  In  the  temporary  govern- 
ment of  Carolina,  I  find  the  name  of  Robert  Holden,  Culpep- 


1680-1688.  LEGISLATION  FOR  CAROLINA.  427 

per's  associate  and  colleague,  as  receiver-general,  while  "  the 
traitor,  George  Durant,"  quietlj  discharged  the  duty  of  a 
judge.  "  Settle  order  amongst  yourselves,"  wrote  the  proprie- 
taries ;  and  order  had  already  been  settled.  Would  the  disci- 
ples of  Fox  subscribe  to  the  authority  of  the  proprietaries  ? 
"  Yes,"  they  replied,  "  with  heart  and  hand,  to  the  best  of  our 
capacities  and  understandings,  so  far  as  is  consonant  with 
God's  glory  and  the  advancement  of  his  blessed  truth  ;  "  and 
the  restricted  promise  was  accepted.  In  1681,  an  act  of  am- 
nesty, on  easy  conditions,  was  adopted. 

In  1683,  Sothel,  on  reaching  the  colony,  found  tranquillity 
established.     His  arrival  changed  the  scene. 

Sothel  was  of  the  same  class  of  governors  with  Cranfield 
of  ^N'ew  Hampshire.  He  had  accepted  the  government  in  the 
hope  of  acquiring  a  fortune,  and  he  cheated  his  associates,  as 
well  as  plundered  the  colonists.  To  the  latter  he  could  not  be 
acceptable,  for  it  was  his  duty  to  establish  the  constitutions 
and  enforce  the  navigation  acts.  To  introduce  the  constitu- 
tions was  impossible,  unless  he  could  transform  a  log  cabin  into 
a  baronial  castle,  a  negro  slave  into  a  herd  of  leet-men.  And 
how  could  one  man,  without  soldiers,  and  without  a  vessel  of 
war,  enforce  the  navigation  acts  ?  Sothel  had  no  higher  pur- 
pose than  to  grow  rich  by  exacting  illegal  fees  and  engrossing 
traffic  with  the  Indians.  The  people  of  North  Carolina,  al- 
ready experienced  in  rebellion,  having  borne  with  him  about 
five  years,  deposed  him  without  bloodshed,  and  appealed  once 
more  to  the  proprietaries.  It  is  proof  that  Sothel  had  com- 
mitted no  acts  of  wanton  cruelty,  that  he  preferred  a  request 
to  submit  his  case  to  an  assembly,  fearing  the  colonists,  whom 
he  had  pillaged,  less  than  the  associates  whom  he  had  be- 
trayed. His  request  was  granted  ;  and  the  colony  condemned 
him  to  a  twelve  months'  exile  and  a  perpetual  incapacity  for 
the  government. 

Here  was  a  double  grief  to  the  proprietaries ;  the  rapacity 
of  Sothel  was  a  breach  of  trust,  the  judgment  of  the  assembly 
an  ominous  usurpation.  The  planters  of  North  Carolina  recov- 
ered tranquillity  as  soon  as  they  escaped  the  misrule  from 
abroad ;  and,  sure  of  amnesty,  esteemed  themselves  the  hap- 
piest people  on  earth.     They  loved  the  clear  air  and  bright 


428  BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  n. ;  ch.  m, 

skies  of  their  "  summer  land."'  Careless  of  religious  sects,  or 
colleges,  or  lawyers,  or  absolute  laws,  they  possessed  liberty 
of  conscience  and  personal  independence,  freedom  of  the  for- 
est and  of  the  river.  From  almost  every  homestead  they 
enjoyed  a  prospect  of  spacious  rivers,  of  primeval  forests. 
For  them  unnumbered  swine  fattened  on  the  fruits  of  the 
forest ;  for  them  cattle  multiplied  on  the  pleasant  meadows. 
What  though  Europe  was  rocked  to  its  centre  by  commo- 
tions ?  What  though  England  was  changing  its  constitution  ? 
Should  the  planter  of  Albemarle  trouble  himself  for  Holland 
or  France  ?  for  James  II.  or  William  of  Orange  ?  for  a  Whig 
party  or  a  high  church  party?  Almost  all  the  American 
colonies  were  chiefly  planted  by  those  to  whom  the  uniformi- 
ties of  European  life  were  intolerable;  North  Carolina  was 
planted  by  men  to  whom  the  restraints  of  other  colonies  were 
too  severe.  They  dwelt  in  lonely  granges ;  there  was  neither 
city  nor  township ;  there  was  hardly  even  a  hamlet,  or  one 
house  within  sight  of  another ;  nor  were  there  roads,  except 
as  the  paths  from  house  to  house  were  distinguished  by 
notches  in  the  trees.  But  the  settlers  were  gentle  in  their 
tampers,  enemies  to  violence.  IS'ot  all  their  successive  revo- 
lutions had  kindled  in  them  vindictive  passions ;  freedom 
was  enjoyed  without  anxiety  as  without  guarantees ;  and  the 
spirit  of  humanity  maintained  its  influence  in  the  paradise  of 
Quakers, 


1670-1672.      SETTLEMENTS  IN  SOUTH   CAROLINA.  429 


CHAPTER  Yin. 

SETTLEMENTS    IN    SOUTH    CAROLINA. 

To  promote  success  in  planting  South  Carolina,  the  pro- 
prietaries tempted  emigrants  by  the  offer  of  land  at  an  easy 
quit-rent,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  were  granted  for 
every  able  man-servant.  "  In  that  they  meant  negroes  as  well 
as  Christians."  Of  the  original  thirteen  states,  South  Carolina 
alone  was  from  its  origin  essentially  a  planting  state  with  slave 
labor. 

In  January,  1670,  more  than  a  month  before  the  revised 
model  was  signed,  a  considerable  number  of  emigrants  set  sail 
for  Carolina,  which,  both  for  climate  and  soil,  was  celebrated 
as  "the  beauty  and  envy  of  l^orth  America."  They  were 
conducted  by  Joseph  West,  as  commercial  agent  for  the 
proprietaries  ;  and  by  William  Sayle,  who,  having  more  than 
twenty  years  before  made  himself  known  as  leader  in  an 
attempt  to  plant  the  isles  of  the  gulf  of  Florida,  was  consti- 
tuted a  proprietary  governor,  with  jurisdiction  extending  as. 
far  north  as  Cape  Carteret,  as  far  south  as  the  Spaniards  would 
tolerate.  Having  touched  at  Ireland  and  Barbados,  the  ships, 
which  bore  the  company  entered  the  well-known  waters  where 
the  fleet  of  Eibault  had  anchored,  and  examined  the  site 
where  the  Huguenots  had  engraved  the  lilies  of  France  and 
erected  the  fortress  of  Carolina.  After  short  delay,  they 
sailed  into  Ashley  river,  and  on  "the  first  high  land  con- 
venient for  tillage  and  pasturing,"  the  three  ship-loads  of 
emigrants,  who  as  yet  formed  the  whole  people  of  South' 
Carolina,  began  their  town.  Few  as  were  the  settlers,  no  im- 
mediate danger  was  apprehended  from  the  natives ;  epidemic 
sickness  and  sanguinary  wars  had  left  the  neighboring  coasts 


430    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    partii.-,  ch.  vm. 

almost  a  desert.  Of  this  town,  everj  log-liouse  has  vanished, 
and  its  site  is  absorbed  in  a  plantation. 

The  emigrants  had  hardly  landed  before  they  instituted  a 
government  on  the  basis  of  liberty.  A  copy  of  the  original 
fundamental  constitutions,  which  had  no  article  establishing 
the  church  of  England,  had  been  furnished  them,  duly  signed 
and  sealed ;  but  it  was  indeed  impossible  "  to  execute  the 
grand  model."  A  parliamentary  convention  was  held  ;  five 
members  of  the  grand  council  were  elected  to  act  with  five 
whom  the  proprietaries  had  appointed ;  the  whole  body  pos- 
sessed a  veto  on  the  executive,  and,  with  the  governor  and 
twenty  delegates,  who  were  now  elected  by  the  people,  consti- 
tuted the  legislature  of  the  province.  Representative  govern- 
itient  struck  root  from  the  beginning.  John  Locke,  as  well  as 
Sir  John  Yeamans  and  James  Carteret,  was  created  a  land- 
grave. In  1671,  the  revised  copy  of  the  model  was  sent  over, 
with  a  set  of  rules  and  instructions,  but  were  firmly  resisted, 
and  the  commonwealth,  from  its  organization,  was  distracted 
by  a  political  feud  between  the  proprietaries  and  the  people ; 
between  the  friends  of  the  church,  always  a  minority,  and  a 
union  of  all  classes  of  dissenters. 

From  Barbados  arrived  Sir  John  Yeamans,  in  1671,  with 
African  slaves.  In  the  same  year  there  came  from  'New  York 
two  ships  with  Dutch  emigrants,  who  were  followed  by  others 
of  their  countrymen  from  Holland. 

The  planting  of  South  Carolina  did  not  encounter  unusual 
hardships.  Yet  the  red  men,  though  few,  were  unfriendly  ; 
and  it  was  with  arms  at  hand  that  the  emigrants  gathered 
oysters,  or  swept  the  rivers,  or  toiled  at  building. 

The  first  site  for  a  town  had  been  chosen  without  regard  to 
commerce.  The  point  between  the  two  rivers,  to  which,  in 
honor  of  Shaftesbury,  the  names  of  Ashley  and  Cooper  were 
given,  soon  attracted  attention ;  in  1672,  those  who  had  pur- 
chased grants  there,  desirous  of  obtaining  neighbors,  wiHingly 
offered  to  surrender  one  half  of  their  land  as  "  commons  of 
pasture  ; "  and  the  town  on  the  neck  of  land  then  called  Oyster 
Point,  in  1680,  to  become  a  village  named  from  the  reigning 
king,  and,  after  more  than  a  century,  incorporated  as  the  city 
of  Charleston,  began  with  the  cabins  of  graziers. 


1672-1685.      SETTLEMENTS  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  431 

In  April,  1672,  all  previous  parliaments  and  parliamentary 
conventions  were  dissolved ;  the  rapidly  increasing  colony  de- 
manded "  a  new  parliament,"  and  instituted  a  government  for 
itself ;  it  did  not  deem  it  possible  to  conform  more  closely  to 
the  constitutions. 

Labors  of  agriculture  in  the  sultry  clime  were  appalling  to 
Englishmen.  Neither  did  the  culture  of  the  cereal  grasses  at 
once  promise  success.  It  was  observed  that  the  climate  of 
South  Carolina  is  more  congenial  to  the  African  "  than  that 
of  the  more  northern  colonies ; "  it  became  the  great  object 
of  the  emigrant  "  to  buy  negro  slaves,  without  which,"  adds 
Wilson,  "  a  planter  can  never  do  any  great  matter ;  "  and  the 
negro  race  was  multiplied  so  rapidly  by  importations  that,  in 
a  few  years,  we  are  told,  the  blacks  in  the  low  country  were 
to  the  whites  in  the  proportion  of  twenty-two  to  twelve — a 
proportion  that  had  no  parallel  north  of  the  West  Indies. 

Imagination  already  regarded  Carolina  as  the  chosen  spot 
for  the  culture  of  the  olive ;  and,  in  the  region  where  flowers 
bloom  every  month  in  the  year,  orange-trees  were  to  supplant 
the  cedar ;  mulberries  to  feed  silk-worms  ;  and  choicest  wines 
to  be  ripened.  For  this  end,  Charles  II.,  with  an  almost  soli- 
tary instance  of  munificence  toward  America,  sent  at  his  own 
expense  to  Carolina  a  few  foreign  Protestants,  to  domesticate 
the  productions  of  the  south  of  Europe. 

From  England  emigrations  were  considerable.  Even 
Shaftesbury,  when,  in  July,  1681,  he  was  committed  to  the 
Tower,  desired  leave  to  withdraw  to  Carolina.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  proprietaries  was  a  sufficient  invitation  to  members 
of  the  church  of  England.  The  promise  of  equal  immunities 
attracted  many  dissenters.  A  contemporary  historian  com- 
memorates with  singular  praise  the  company  from  Somerset- 
shire, who,  in  1683,  were  conducted  to  Charleston  by  Joseph 
Blake,  brother  to  the  gallant  admiral.  Blake  was  already 
advanced  in  life;  but  impatient  of  present  oppression,  and 
fearing  still  greater  evils  from  a  popish  successor,  he  devoted 
to  the  advancement  of  emigration  all  the  fortune  which  he 
had  inherited  as  the  fruits  of  his  brother's  victories.  A  col- 
ony of  Scotch-Irish  of  the  same  year  received  a  hearty  wel- 
come. 


432    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  ch.  viii. 

The  tyranny  of  government  in  Scotland  compelled  its  in- 
habitants to  seek  peace  by  abandoning  their  native  country. 
In  1684,  the  Presbyterian,  Lord  Cardross,  many  of  vrhose 
friends  had  suffered  imprisonment,  the  rack,  and  even  death, 
and  who  had  been  persecuted  under  Lauderdale,  sailed  for 
Carolina  vrith  ten  families  of  outcasts.  They  planted  them- 
selves at  Port  Royal;  the  colony  of  Ashley  river  exer- 
cised over  them  a  jurisdiction  to  which  they  reluctantly  sub- 
mitted ;  Cardross  returned  to  Europe,  where  he  rendered  ser- 
vice in  the  approaching  revolution ;  and,  in  1686,  the  Span- 
iards, taking  umbrage  at  a  plantation  established  on  ground 
which  they  claimed  as  a  dependency  of  St.  Augustine,  in- 
vaded the  frontier  settlement,  and  laid  it  entirely  waste.  Of 
the  unhappy  emigrants,  some  found  their  way  back  to  Scot- 
land ;  some  mingled  with  the  earlier  planters  of  Carolina. 

The  most  remarkable  incident  in  the  early  history  of  South 
Carolina  was  the  arrival  of  many  Huguenots,  who,  in  moral 
worth  and  intelligence,  were  of  "  the  Best "  of  the  French. 
Pesolved  to  enforce  religious  uniformity  in  his  dominions, 
Louis  XI Y.  attempted  to  dragoon  the  French  Calvinists 
into  returning  to  the  Catholic  church,  by  quartering  soldiers 
in  every  Protestant  family  to  torment  them  into  apostasy. 
In  1685,  the  edict  of  Nantes,  which  had  confirmed  to  Prot- 
estants in  France  an  imperfect  toleration,  was  revoked,  and 
all  public  worship  was  forbidden  them.  Desiring  not  to 
drive  away,  but  to  convert  his  subjects,  the  king  forbade 
emigration  under  penalty  of  the  gallows ;  the  hounds  were 
let  loose  on  game  shut  up  in  a  close  park.  Every  wise 
government  was  eager  to  offer  a  home  to  those  who  broke 
away  and  who  brought  with  them  the  highest  industrial  skill 
of  France.  They  introduced  into  the  north  of  Germany 
manufactures  before  unknown.  A  suburb  of  London  was 
filled  with  them.  The  prince  of  Orange  gained  regiments 
of  soldiers.  A  colony  of  the  refugees  reached  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  In  America  they  were  welcome  everywhere. 
The  towns  of  Massachusetts  contributed  liberally  to  their  sup- 
port, and  provided  them  with  land.  Others  repaired  to  ISTew 
York ;  but  the  climate  of  South  Carolina  attracted  the  exiles 
from  Languedoc. 


1685-1691. 


SETTLEMENTS  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINl^SC^AU^ygSii^-^ 


"  We  quitted  home  by  night,  leaving  the  soldiers  in  their 
beds,  and  abandoning  the  house  with  its  furniture,"  wrote 
Judith,  the  young  wife  of  Pierre  Manigault.  *'  We  contrived 
to  hide  ourselves  for  ten  days  at  Romans,  in  Dauphiny,  while 
a  search  was  made  for  us  ;  but  our  faithful  hostess  would  not 
betray  us."  Nor  could  they  escape  except  by  a  circuitous 
journey  through  Germany  and  Holland,  and  thence  to  Eng- 
land, in  the  depths  of  winter.  "  Having  embarked  at  Lon- 
don, we  were  sadly  off.  The  spotted  fever  appeared  on 
board  the  vessel,  and  many  died  of  the  disease ;  among  these, 
our  aged  mother.  We  touched  at  Bermuda,  where  the  vessel 
was  seized.  Our  money  was  all  spent ;  with  great  difficulty 
we  procured  a  passage  in  another  vessel.  After  our  arrival  in 
Carolina  we  suffered  every  kind  of  evil.  In  eighteen  months 
our  eldest  brother,  unaccustomed  to  the  hard  labor  which  we 
were  obliged  to  undergo,  died  of  a  fever.  Since  leaving 
France  we  had  experienced  every  kind  of  affliction,  disease, 
pestilence,  famine,  poverty,  hard  labor.  I  have  been  for  six 
months  without  tasting  bread,  working  the  ground  like  a  slave ; 
and  I  have  passed  three  or  four  years  without  having  it  when 
I  wanted  it.  God  has  done  great  things  for  us,  in  enabling 
us  to  bear  up  under  so  many  trials." 

Flying  from  a  kingdom  where  the  profession  of  their 
religion  was  a  felony,  where  their  estates  were  liable  to  be 
confiscated  in  favor  of  the  apostate,  w^here  the  preaching  of 
their  faith  was  a  crime  to  be  expiated  on  the  wheel,  where 
their  children  might  be  torn  from  them  and  transferred  to  the 
nearest  Catholic  relation,  the  fugitives  from  Languedoc,  from 
Rochelle,  and  Saintange,  and  Bordeaux,  from  St.  Quentin, 
Poictiers,  and  the  beautiful  valley  of  Tours,  from  St.  Lo  and 
Dieppe,  men  who  had  the  virtues  of  the  English  Puritans 
without  their  bigotry,  came  to  the  land  to  which  Shaftesbury 
had  invited  the  believer  of  every  creed.  There  they  obtained 
an  assignment  of  lands,  and  soon  had  tenements.  On  every 
Lord's  day  they  might  be  seen  gathering  from  their  plantations 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Cooper,  the  parents  with  their  children 
whom  no  bigot  could  now  wrest  from  them,  making  their  way 
in  skiffs  to  their  church  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers. 

The  country  abounds  in  monuments  of  the  French  Protes- 


434:    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  ch.  viii. 

tants.  When  the  struggle  for  independence  arrived,  the  son 
of  Judith  Manigault  intrusted  the  vast  fortune  he  had  acquired 
to  the  country  that  had  adopted  his  mother.  The  hall  of  the 
town  of  Boston,  famed  as  "  the  cradle  of  liberty ; "  the  treaty 
that  gave  to  the  United  States  peace  with  independence,  and 
the  Mississippi  for  a  boundary ;  the  name  of  the  oldest  col- 
lege of  Maine — bear  witness  to  the  public  virtues  of  American 
descendants  of  the  Huguenots. 

To  the  emigrants  from  France,  South  Carolina  conceded 
the  privileges  of  citizenship  so  soon  as  it  could  be  done  by  the 
act  of  the  Carolinians  themselves. 

For  the  proprietary  power  was  essentially  weak.  The  com- 
pany of  courtiers,  which  became  no  more  than  a  partnership 
of  speculators  in  colonial  lands,  had  not  sufficient  force  to  re- 
sist foreign  violence  or  assert  domestic  authority.  It  could 
derive  no  strength  but  from  the  colonists  or  from  the  crown. 
But  the  colonists  connected  self-protection  with  the  right  of 
self-government ;  and  the  crown  would  not  incur  expense,  ex- 
cept on  a  surrender  of  the  jurisdiction.  The  proprietary  gov- 
ernment, having  its  organ  in  the  council,  could  prolong  its 
existence  only  by  concessions,  and  was  destined  from  its  in- 
herent weakness  to  be  overthrown  by  the  commons. 

In  16 TO,  the  proprietaries  acquiesced  in  a  government 
which  had  little  reference  to  the  constitutions.  The  first 
governor  sunk  under  the  climate  and  the  hardships  of  found- 
ing a  colony.  His  successor,  Sir  John  Yeamans,  was  a  sordid 
calculator,  bent  only  on  acquiring  a  fortune.  He  encouraged 
expense,  and  enriched  himself,  without  gaining  respect  or 
hatred.  "  It  must  be  a  bad  soil,"  said  his  weary  employers, 
"  that  will  not  maintain  industrious  men,  or  we  must  be  very 
silly  that  would  maintain  the  idle."  If  they  continued  their 
outlays,  it  was  to  foster  vineyards  and  olive-groves;  they 
refused  supplies  of  cattle,  and  desired  returns  in  compensa- 
tion for  their  expenditures. 

From  1674,  the  moderation  and  good  sense  of  West  pre- 
served tranquillity  for  about  nine  years  ;  but  the  lords,  who  had 
first  purchased  his  services  by  the  grant  of  all  their  merchan- 
dise and  debts  in  Carolina,  in  the  end  dismissed  him  from 
office,  on  the  charge  that  he  favored  the  popular  party. 


1674-1690.      SETTLEMENTS  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  435 

The  continued  struggle  with  the  proprietaries  hastened 
the  emancipation  of  the  people  from  their  rule ;  but  the  praise 
of  having  never  been  in  the  wrong  cannot  be  awarded  to  the 
colonists.  The  latter  claimed  the  right  of  weakening  the 
neighboring  Indian  tribes  by  a  partisan  warfare,  and  a  sale  of 
the  captives  into  West  Indian  bondage ;  their  antagonists  de- 
manded that  the  treaty  of  peace  with  the  red  men  should  be 
preserved.  Again,  the  proprietaries  offered  some  favorable 
modifications  of  the  constitutions ^the  colonists  respected  the 
modifications  no  more  than  the  originai>laws.  A  rapid  change 
of  governors  augmented  the  confusion,  ^here  was  no  har- 
mony of  interests  between  the  lords  paramount  and  their  ten- 
ants, or  of  authority  between  the  executive  and  the  popular 
assembly.  As  in  other  colonies  south  of  the  Potomac,  colonial 
legislation  did  not  favor  the  collection  of  debts  that  had  been 
contracted  elsewhere  ;  the  proprietaries  demanded  a  rigid  con- 
formity to  the  cruel  method  of  the  English  courts.  It  had 
been  usual  to  hold  the  polls  for  elections  at  Charleston  only ; 
as  population  extended,  the  proprietaries  ordered  an  appor- 
tionment of  the  representation ;  but  Carolina  would  not  allow 
districts  to  be  carved  out  and  representation  to  be  apportioned 
from  abroad ;  and  the  useful  reformation  could  not  be  adopted 
till  it  was  demanded  and  effected  by  the  people  themselves. 

England  had  always  favored  its  merchants  in  the  invasion 
of  the  Spanish  commercial  monopoly  ;  had  sometimes  protected 
pirates,  and  Charles  II.  had  knighted  a  freebooter.  In  Caro- 
lina, especially  after  Port  Koyal  had  been  laid  waste  by  the 
Spaniards,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  regarded  the 
buccaneers  as  their  natural  allies  against  a  common  enemy, 
and  thus  opened  one  more  dispute  with  the  proprietaries. 

When  the  commerce  of  South  Carolina  had  so  increased 
that  a  collector  of  plantation  duties  was  appointed,  a  new 
struggle  arose.  The  court  of  the  proprietaries,  careful  not  to 
offend  the  king,  gave  orders  that  the  acts  of  navigation,  al- 
though they  were  an  infringement  of  the  charter,  should  be 
enforced.  The  colonists,  who  had  made  themselves  indepen- 
dent of  the  proprietaries  in  fact,  esteemed  themselves  indepen- 
dent of  parliament  of  right.  Here,  as  everywhere,  the  acts 
were  resisted  as  at  war  with  natural  equity. 


436  BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  viii. 

The  pregnant  cause  of  dissensions  in  Carolina  could  not  be 
removed  till  the  question  of  powers  should  be  definitively  set- 
tled. The  proprietaries  were  willing  to  believe  that  the  cause 
existed  in  the  want  of  dignity  and  character  in  the  governor. 
That  affairs  might  be  more  firmly  established,  James  Colleton, 
a  brother  of  a  proprietary,  was  appointed  governor,  with  the 
rank  of  landgrave  and  an  endowment  of  forty-eight  thousand 
acres  of  land ;  but  when,  in  1686,  he  met  the  colonial  parlia- 
ment which  had  been  elected  before  his  arrival,  a  majority 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  binding  force  of  the  constitutions. 
By  a  violent  act  of  power,  Colleton,  like  Cromwell  in  a  simi- 
lar instance,  excluded  the  refractory  members  from  the  parlia- 
ment. These,  in  their  turn,  protested  against  any  measures 
which  might  be  adopted  by  the  remaining  minority. 

A  new  parliament,  in  1687,  was  still  more  intractable ;  and 
the  "  standing  laws  "  which  they  adopted  were  negatived  by 
the  court  of  the  proprietaries.  The  strife  between  the  parties 
extended  to  all  their  relations.  When  Colleton  endeavored 
to  collect  quit-rents  not  only  on  cultivated  fields,  but  on  wild 
lands,  the  assembly,  imprisoning  the  secretary  of  the  province 
and  seizing  the  records,  defied  the  governor  and  his  patrons. 

Colleton  resolved  on  one  last  desperate  effort,  and,  in  1689, 
pretending  danger  from  Indians  or  Spaniards,  called  out  the 
militia  and  declared  martial  law.  The  assembly  had  nq  doubt 
of  its  duty  to  protect  the  country  against  a  military  despotism. 
The  English  revolution  of  1688  was  therefore  imitated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ashley  and  Cooper.  In  1690,  soon  after  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  had  been  proclaimed,  a  meeting  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  South  Carolina  disfranchised  Colleton,  and  ban- 
ished him  from  tbe  province. 


1660-1675.     MARYLAND  AFTER  THE  RESTORATION.  437 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

MARYLAND    AFTER   THE   RESTORATION. 

The  progress  of  Maryland  under  the  proprietary  govern- 
ment was  tranquil  and  rapid.  Its  staple  was  tobacco.  It  was 
vainly  attempted  to  create  towns  by  statute  ;  each  plantation 
was  a  world  within  itself.  Its  laborers  were  in  part  white 
indented  servants,  whose  term  of  service  was  limited  by  per- 
severing legislation ;  in  part  negro  slaves,  whose  importation 
was  favored  both  by  English  cupidity  and  by  provincial  stat- 
utes. The  appointing  power  to  nearly  every  office  in  the 
counties  as  well  as  in  the  province  was  not  with  the  people, 
and  the  judiciary  was  beyond  their  control ;  the  taxes  imposed 
by  the  county  officers  were  burdensome  alike  from  their 
amount  and  the  manner  of  their  levy. 

At  the  restoration,  the  authority  of  Philip  Calvert,  the 
proprietary's  deputy,  was  promptly  and  quietly  recognised. 
Fendall,  the  former  governor,  who  had  obeyed  the  popular 
will  as  paramount  to  the  authority  of  Baltimore,  was  convicted 
of  treason.  His  punishment  was  mild ;  a  wise  clemency 
veiled  the  incipient  strife  between  the  people  and  their  sover- 
eign under  a  general  amnesty ;  but  Maryland  was  not  placed 
beyond  the  influence  of  the  ideas  which  that  age  of  revolution 
had  set  in  motion. 

The  administration  of  Maryland  was  marked  by  concilia- 
tion and  humanity.  To  foster  industry,  to  promote  union,  to 
cherish  religious  peace — these  were  the  honest  purposes  of 
Lord  Baltimore  during  his  long  supremacy.  The  persecuted 
and  the  unhappy  thronged  to  his  domains.  The  white  laborer 
rose  rapidly  to  the  condition  of  a  free  proprietor ;  the  female 
emigrant  was  sure  to  improve  her  condition.     From  France 


438    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  n. ;  ch.  ix. 

came  Huguenots ;  from  Germany,  from  Holland,  from  Sweden, 
from  Finland,  it  may  be,  though  most  rarely,  from  Piedmont, 
and  even  Bohemia,  the  children  of  misfortune  sought  pro- 
tection under  the  tolerant  sceptre  of  the  Roman  Catholic, 
and  were  made  citizens  with  equal  franchises.  The  people 
called  Quakers  met  for  religious  worship  publicly  and  with- 
out interruption ;  and  with  secret  satisfaction  George  Fox 
relates  that  members  of  the  legislature  and  the  council,  per- 
sons of  quality,  and  justices  of  the  peace,  were  present  at  a 
large  and  very  heavenly  meeting.  Once  the  Indian  "em- 
peror," attended  by  his  "  kings,"  listened  to  his  evening  dis- 
course. At  a  later  day,  the  heir  of  the  province  came  to 
an  assembly  of  Quakers.  But  the  refusal  to  perform  mili- 
tary duty  subjected  them  to  fines  and  imprisonment ;  the 
refusal  to  take  an  oath  sometimes  involved  a  forfeiture  of 
property ;  nor  was  it  before  1688  that  indulgence  was  fully 
conceded. 

In  1662,  Charles,  the  eldest  son  of  the  proprietary,  came 
to  reside  in  his  patrimony.  He  visited  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware,  and  struggled  to  extend  the  limits  of  his  juris- 
diction. A  duty  was  levied  on  the  tonnage  of  every  vessel 
Jjiat  arrived.  The  Indian  nations  were  pacified,  and  their 
rights,  subordination,  and  commerce  defined.  By  acts  of  com- 
promise between  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  representati^^  of 
the  people,  his  power  to  raise  taxes  was  precisely  limited,  and 
the  mode  of  paying  quit-rents  established  on  terms  favorable 
to  the  colony ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  custom  of  two 
shillings  a  hogshead  was  levied  on  all  exported  tobacco,  of 
which  a  moiety  was  appropriated  to  the  defence  of  the  gov- 
ernment ;  the  residue  became  conditionally  the  revenue  of  the 
proprietary. 

The  declining  life  of  Cecilius  Lord  Baltimore,  the  father 
of  Maryland,  the  tolerant  legislator,  was  blessed  with  pros- 
perity. The  colony  which  he  had  planted  in  youth  crowned 
his  old  age  with  its  gratitude.  A  firm  supporter  of  preroga- 
tive, a  friend  to  the  Stuarts,  a  member  of  the  Roman  church, 
he  established  an  incipient  equality  among  sects.  His  benevo- 
lent designs  were  the  fruit  of  his  personal  character,  his  pro- 
prietary interests,  and  the  necessity  of  his  position.     He  died, 


I 


1675-1685.      MARYLAND  AFTER  THE  RESTORATION  439 

in  November,  1675,  after  a  supremacy  of  more  than  forty- 
three  years. 

The  death  of  Cecilius  recalled  to  England  the  heir  of  the 
province,  v^ho  had  administered  its  government  for  fourteen 
years  with  a  moderation  which  had  been  rewarded  by  the 
increasing  prosperity  of  his  dominions.  Previous  to  his  de- 
parture, the  code  of  laws  received  a  thorough  revision ;  the 
memorable  act  of  toleration  was  confirmed.  Virginia  had,  in 
1670,  prohibited  the  importation  of  felons  until  the  king  or 
privy  council  should  reverse  the  order.  In  Maryland,  six  years 
later,  "  the  importation  of  convicted  persons  "  was  absolutely 
prohibited  without  regard  to  the  will  of  the  king  or  the  Eng- 
lish parliament,  and,  in  1692,  the  prohibition  was  renewed. 
The  established  revenues  of  the  proprietary  were  continued. 

As  L/rd  Baltimore  sailed  for  England,  the  seeds  of  dis- 
content were  already  gA-minating.  The  office  of  proprietary, 
a  feudal  principally  with  extensive  manors  in  every  county, 
was  an  anomaly;  the  doctrine  of  the  paramount  authority 
of  an  hereditary  sovereign  was  at  war  with  the  spirit  which 
emigration  fostered,  and  the  principles  of  civil  equality  natu- 
rally grew  up  in  all  the  British  settlements.  An  insurrection' 
in  Virginia  found  friends  north  of  the  Potomac,  and  the  ten- 
dency toward  more  popular  forms  of  administration  could  not 
be>9pressed.  The  assembly  which  was  convened  during  the 
absence  of  the  proprietary  shared  in  this  spirit ;  and  the  right 
of  suffrage  was  established  on  a  corresponding  basis.  On 
the  return  of  the  proprietary  to  the  province,  he  annulled,  by 
proclamation,  the  rule  whick  changed  the  elective  franchise, 
and,  by  an  arbitrary  ordinance,  limited  the  right  of  suffrage 
to  freemen  possessing  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres,  or  having  a 
visible  personal  estate  of  forty  pounds.  Ko  difference  was 
made  with  respect  to  color.  The  restrictions,  which  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty-one  years  successfully  resisted  the  princi- 
ple of  universal  suffrage  anw)ng  freemen  of  the  Caucasiauyrace, 
were  introduced  in  the  mlist  of  civil  commotion.  Eendall, 
the  old  republican,  was  again  planning  schemes  of  ^surrec- 
tion,  and  even  of  independence ;  and  it  was  said,  "  The  max- 
ims of  the  old  Lord  Baltimore  will  not  do  in  the  present  age." 

The  insurrection  was  for  the  time  repressed ;  but  its  symp- 


440    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  rs. 

toms  were  the  more  alarming  from  the  religious  fanaticism 
with  which  the  principle  of  popular  power  was  combined. 
The  discontents  were  increased  by  hostility  toward  papists ; 
and,  as  Protestantism  became  a  political  sect,  the  proprietary 
government  was  in  the  issue  easily  subverted;  for  it  had 
rested  mainly  on  a  grateful  deference. 

On  the  death  of  the  first  feudal  sovereign  of  Maryland, 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  been  solicited  to  secure  an 
establishment  of  the  Anglican  church,  which  clamored  for 
favor  in  the  province  where  it  enjoyed  equality.  Misrepre- 
sentations were  not  spared.  "  Maryland,"  said  a  clergyman 
of  the  church,  *'  is  a  pest-house  of  iniquity."  The  cure  for  all 
evil  was  to  be  "  an  established  support  of  a  Protestant  minis- 
try." The  prelates  demanded  not  freedom,  but  privilege  ;  an 
establishment  to  be  maintained  at  the  common  expense  of  the 
province.  Inflexible  in  his  regard  for  freedom  of  worship. 
Lord  Baltimore  resisted. 

The  opposition  to  a  feudal  sovereign  easily  united  with 
Protestant  bigotry.  When,  in  1681,  an  insurrection  was  sup- 
pressed by  methods  of  clemency  and  forbearance,  the  govern- 
ment was  accused  of  partiality  toward  papists ;  and  the  Eng. 
lish  ministry  issued  an  order  that  offices  of  government  in 
Maryland  should  be  intrusted  exclusively  to  Protestants. 
Roman  Catholics  were  disfranchised  in  the  province  which 
they  had  planted. 

With  the  colonists  Lord  Baltimore  was  at  issue  for  his 
hereditary  authority ;  with  the  English  church  for  his  reli- 
gious faith ;  the  unhappy  effects  of  the  navigation  acts  on 
colonial  industry  involved  him  in  opposition  to  the  commer- 
cial policy  of  England.  His  rights  of  jurisdiction  had  been 
disregarded.  The  custom-house  of  Maryland  had  been  placed 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  governor  of  Yirgini^,  the 
resistance  of  the  officers  of  Lord  Baltimore  to  the  invasion  of 
his  rights  had  led  to  quarrels  and  bloodshed,  and  a  contro- 
versy with  Yirginia.  The  accession  of  James  II.  seemed  an 
auspicious  event  for  a  Roman  Catholic  proprietary ;  but  the 
first  result  from  parliament  was  a  new  tax  on  the  consump- 
tion of  colonial  produce  in  England;  and  the  king,  who 
meditated  the  subversion  of  British  freedom,  resolved  with 


1685-1689.    MARYLAND  AFTER  THE  RESTORATION.  441 

impartial  injustice  to  reduce  all  the  colonies  to  a  direct  de- 
pendence on  the  crown.  The  proprietary,  hastening  to  Eng- 
land, vainly  pleaded  his  irreproachable  administration.  His 
remonstrance  was  disregarded,  his  chartered  rights  despised  ; 
and  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  was  ordered  against  his  patent. 
But,  before  the  legal  forms  could  be  complied  with,  the  peo- 
ple of  England  had  sat  in  judgment  on  their  king. 

The  revolution  of  1688  brought  no  immediate  benefit  to 
Lord  Baltimore.  William  Joseph,  the  president,  to  whom  he 
had  intrusted  the  administration,  convened  an  assembly  in 
November,  1688,  and  thus  addressed  them  :  '^  The  power  by 
which  we  are  assembled  here  is  undoubtedly  derived  from 
God  to  the  king,  and  from  the  king  to  his  excellency,  the 
lord  proprietary,  and  from  his  said  lordship  to  us.  The 
power,  therefore,  whereof  I  speak,  being,  as  said,  firstly,  in 
God  and  from  God ;  secondly,  in  the  king  and  from  the  king ; 
thirdly,  in  his  lordship  ;  fourthly,  in  us — the  end  and  duty 
of  and  for  which  this  assembly  is  now  called  and  met  is 
that  from  these  four  heads ;  to  wit,  from  God,  the  king,  our 
lord,  and  selves."  Haviijp  thus  established  the  divine  right  of 
the  proprietary,  he  endeavored  to  confirm  it  by  exacting  a 
special  oath  of  fidelity.  The  assembly  resisted,  and  was  pro- 
rogued. The  laws  threatened  the  severest  punishment,  even 
imprisonment,  exile,  and  death  itself  on  practices  against  the 
proprietary  government ;  ]^t  the  spirit  of  popular  liberty,  in- 
flamed by  Protestant  bigotry,  the  clamor  of  a  pretended  Po- 
pish plot,  and  a  delay  in  proclaiming  the  new  sovereigns, 
broke  through  all  restraint ;  an  organized  insurrection  was 
conducted  by  John  Coode,  a  worthless  man,  of  old  an  asso- 
ciate of  Fendall ;  and,  in  August,  1689,  "The  Association  in 
arms  for  the  defence  of  the  Protestant  religion  "  usurped  the 
government. 

VOL.  I.— 30 


442     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    past  ii.  ;  ch.  x. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

HOW   THE    8TFART8    REWARDED   THE    LOYALTY    OF    VIRGINIA. 

From  1652  to  1660,  "the  people  of  Yirginla."  had  gov- 
erned themselves.  In  England,  triennial  parliaments  had 
been  established  by  law ;  the  Yirginians,  imitating  the  "  act 
of  1640  for  preventing  inconveniences  happening  by  the  long 
intermission  of  parliament,"  provided  for  a  biennial  election 
of  their  legislators.  In  its  forms  and  in  its  legislation,  Vir- 
ginia was  a  representative  democracy  ;  it  insisted  on  universal- 
ity of  suffrage ;  it  would  not  tolerate  "  mercenary  "  ministers 
of  the  law ;  it  left  each  parish  to  take  care  of  itself ;  every 
officer  was,  directly  or  indirectly,  chosen  by  the  people. 

This  result  grew  naturally  out  of  the  character  of  the  early 
settlers,  who  were,  most  of  them,  adventurers,  bringing  to  the 
Kew  World  no  wealth  but  enterprise,  no  privileges  but  those 
of  Englishmen.  A  new  and  undefined  increase  of  freedom 
was  gained  by  the  universal  prevalence  of  the  spirit  of  per- 
sonal independence.  An  instinctive  aversion  to  too  much 
government  was  a  trait  of  southern  character,  expressed  in  the 
solitary  manner  of  settling  the  country,  in  the  indisposition 
of  the  inhabitants  to  collect  in  towns,  or  to  associate  for  the 
creation  of  organizations  for  local  self-rule.  As  a  consequence, 
there  was  little  commercial  industry  or  accumulation  of  com- 
mercial wealth.  The  exchanges  were  made  almost  entirely — 
and  it  continued  so  for  more  than  a  century — by  factors  of 
British  merchants.  The  influence  of  wealth,  under  the  form 
of  stocks  and  dealings  in  money,  was  always  inconsiderable, 
and  men  were  so  widely  dispersed  that  far  the  smallest  num- 
ber were  within  easy  reach  of  the  direct  influence  of  the  estab- 
lished church  or   of   civil  authority.     In  Yirginia,  except  in 


1660.  VIRGINIA'S  REWARD  FOR  LOYALTY.  M3 

matters  that  related  to  foreign  commerce,  a  man's  own  wiM 
went  far  toward  being  his  law\ 

Yet  the  seeds  of  privilege  existed,  and  there  was  already 
a  disposition  to  obtain  for  it  the  sanction  of  colonial  legisla- 
tion. Yirginia  was  a  continuation  of  English  society.  Its^ 
history  is  the  development  of  the  principle  of  English  lib- 
erty under  other  conditions  than  in  England.  The  iirst  colo- 
nists were  not  fugitives  from  persecution ;  they  came,  rather,, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  nobility,  the  church,  and  the  mer- 
cantile interests  of  England;  they  brought  with  them  an 
attachment  to  monarchy,  a  reverence  for  the  Anglican  church,, 
a  love  for  England  and  English  institutions.  Their  faith  had 
never  been  shaken  by  the  inroads  of  skepticism ;  no  new 
ideas  of  natural  rights  had  as  yet  inclined  them  to  "  faction." 
The  Anglican  church  was,  without  repugnance,  sanctioned  as. 
the  religion  of  the  State.  The  development  of  the  plebeian 
sects,  to  which  there  was  already  a  tendency,  had  not  come,, 
and  unity  of  worship,  with  few  exceptions,  continued  to  the 
end  of  the  century.  The  principle  of  the  English  law  which 
granted  real  estate  to  the  eldest  born  was  respected,  though 
the  rule  was  modified  in  many  counties  by  the  custom  of 
gavelkind.  From  the  beginning,  for  every  person,  whom  a 
planter  should  at  his  own  charge  transport  into  Yirginia,  he 
could  claim  fifty  acres  of  land.  Thus  a  body  of  large  proprie- 
tors grew  up  from  the  infancy  of  the  settlement. 

The  power  of  the  favored  class  was  increased  by  the  want 
X)f  the  means  of  popular  education.  The  great  mass  of  the 
rising  generation  could  receive  little  literary  culture  ;  its  high- 
er degrees  were  confined  to  the  few.  Many  of  the  royalists 
who  came  over  after  the  death  of  Charles  I.  brought  the 
breeding  of  the  English  gentry  of  that  day,  and  the  direction 
of  aifairs  fell  into  their  hands.  But  others  had  reached"  the 
shores  of  Yirginia  as  servants,  doomed  to  a  temporary  bond- 
age. Some  of  them,  even,  were  convicts ;  but  the  charges  of 
which  they  were  convicted  were  chiefly  politicaL  The  num- 
ber transported  to  Yirginia  for  crime  was  never  considerable. 

Servants  were  emancipated  when  the  years  of  their  in- 
denture were  ended,  and  the  laws  were  designed  to  secure 
and  to  hasten  their  enfranchisement.     In  1663,  a  few  bond- 


4,4.4:     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  ch.  x. 

men,  soldiers  of  Cromwell  and  probably  Roundheads,  impa- 
tient of  servitude  and  excited  by  the  nature  of  life  in  the  wil- 
derness, indulged  once  more  in  vague  aspirations  for  a  purer 
church  and  a  happier  condition ;  but  their  conspiracy  did  not 
extend  beyond  a  scheme  to  anticipate  the  period  of  their  free- 
dom, and  was  easily  suppressed.  The  facility  of  escape  com- 
pelled humane  treatment  of  white  servants,  who  formed  one 
fifth  of  the  adult  population. 

In  1671,  the  number  of  blacks  in  a  population  of  forty 
thousand  was  estimated  at  two  thousand ;  not  above  two  or 
three  ships  of  negroes  arrived  in  seven  years.  The  statute  of 
the  previous  year,  which  declares  who  are  slaves,  followed  an 
idea  long  prevalent  through  Christendom:  "All  servants, 
not  being  Christians,  imported  into  this  country  by  shipping, 
shall  be  slaves."  In  1682,  it  was  added  :  "  Conversion  to  the 
Christian  faith  doth  not  make  free."  The  early  Anglo-Saxon 
rule,  interpreting  every  doubtful  question  in  favor  of  liberty, 
declared  the  children  of  freemen  to  be  free.  Doubts  arose  if 
the  offspring  of  an  Englishman  by  a  negro  woman  should  be 
bond  or  free,  and,  by  the  law  of  1662,  the  rule  of  the  Roman 
law  prevailed  over  the  Anglo-Saxon.  The  offspring  followed 
the  condition  of  its  mother.  In  1664,  Maryland,  by  "  the 
major  vote"  of  its  lower  house,  decided  that  "the  issue  of 
such  marriages  should  serve  thirty  years."  The  female  slave 
was  not  subject  to  taxation  ;  in  1668,  the  emancipated  negress 
was  "  a  tithable."  "  The  death  of  a  slave  from  extremity  of 
correction  was  not  accounted  felony,  since  it  cannot  be  pre- 
sumed," such  is  the  language  of  the  statute  of  1669,  "  that 
prepensed  malice,  which  alone  makes  murther  felony,  should 
induce  any  man  to  destroy  his  own  estate."  Finally,  in  1672, 
it  was  made  lawful  for  "persons  pursuing  fugitive  colored 
slaves  to  wound,  or  even  to  kill  them."  The  master  was  abso- 
lute lord  over  the  slave,  and  the  slave's  posterity  were  his 
bondmen.  As  property  in  Yirginia  consisted  mainly  of  land 
and  laborers,  the  increase  of  negro  slaves  was  grateful  to  the 
large  landed  proprietors. 

The  aristocracy,  which  was  thus  confirmed  in  its  influence 
by  the  extent  of  its  domains,  by  its  superior  intelligence,  and 
by  the  character  of  a  large  part  of  the  laboring  class,  aspired 


1660-1661.     YIRGINIA'S  REWAP.D  FOR  LOYALTY.  445 

to  the  government  of  the  country ;  from  among  them  the 
council  was  selected ;  many  of  them  were  returned  as  members 
of  the  legislature ;  and  they  held  commissions  in  the  militia. 
The  absence  of  local  municipal  governments  led  to  an  anom- 
alous extension  of  the  power  of  the  magistrates.  The  justices 
of  the  peace  for  each  county  fixed  the  amount  of  county 
taxes,  assessed  and  collected  them,  and  superintended  their 
disbursement ;  so  that  military,  judicial,  legislative,  and  exec- 
utive powers  were  in  their  hands. 

At  the  restoration,  two  elements  were  contending  for  the 
mastery  in  the  political  life  of  Virginia :  on  the  one  hand, 
there  was  in  the  Old  Dominion  a  people  ;  on  the  other,  a  form- 
ing aristocracy.  The  present  decision  of  the  contest  would 
depend  on  the  side  to  which  the  sovereign  of  the  country 
would  incline.  During  the  few  years  of  the  interruption  of 
monarchy  in  England,  that  sovereign  had  been  the  people  of 
Virginia  ;  and  their  legislation  had  begun  to  loosen  the  cords 
of  religious  bigotry,  to  confirm  equality  of  franchises,  to  foster 
colonial  industry  by  freedom  of  trafiic  with  the  world.  The 
restoration  of  monarchy  took  from  them  the  power  which  was 
not  to  be  recovered  for  more  than  a  century,  and  gave  to  the 
superior  class  an  ally  in  the  royal  government  and  its  officers. 

The  emigrant  royalists  had  hitherto  not  acted  as  a  political 
party.  If  one  assembly  had,  what  Massachusetts  never  did, 
submitted  to  Kichard  Cromwell ;  if  another  had  elected  Berke- 
ley as  governor,  the  power  of  the  people  still  controlled  legis- 
lative action.  But,  on  the  tidings  of  the  restoration  of  Charles 
II.,  Virginia  shared  the  joy  of  England.  In  the  mother  coun- 
try, the  spirit  of  popular  liberty,  contending  with  ancient  in- 
stitutions which  it  could  not  overthrow,  had  been  productive 
of  much  calamity,  and  had  overwhelmed  the  tenets  of  popular 
enfranchisement  in  disgust  and  abhorrence :  in  Virginia,  where 
no  such  ancient  abuses  existed,  the  same  spirit  had  been  pro- 
ductive only  of  benefits.  Yet  to  the  colony  England  seemed 
a  home ;  and  loyalty  to  the  king  pervaded  the  plantations 
along  the  Chesapeake.  With  the  people  it  was  a  generous 
enthusiasm ;  to  many  of  the  leading  men  it  opened  a  career 
for  ambition ;  and,  with  general  consent.  Sir  William  Berke- 
ley, assuming  such  powers  as  his  royal  commission  bestowed. 


446      BEITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  x. 

issued  writs  for  an  assembly  in  the  name  of  the  king.  The 
sovereignty  over  itself,  which  Virginia  had  exercised  so  well, 
was  at  an  end. 

The  assembly,  chosen  in  1661,  was  composed  of  large 
landholders  and  cavaliers,  in  whom  attachment  to  colonial 
life  had  not  mastered  the  force  of  English  usages.  Of  the  as- 
sembly of  1651,  not  more  than  two  members  were  elected ;  of 
the  assembly  of  March,  1660,  of  which  an  adjourned  meeting 
was  held  in  October,  the  last  assembly  elected  during  the  in- 
terruption, only  eight  were  re-elected  to  the  first  legislature 
of  Charles  II.,  and,  of  these  eight,  not  more  that  five  retained 
their  places.  New  men  came  in,  bringing  with  them  new  prin- 
ciples.   The  restoration  was,  for  Virginia,  a  political  revolution. 

The  "  first  session  "  of  the  royalist  assembly  was  held  in 
March,  1661.  One  of  its  earliest  acts  disfranchised  a  magis- 
trate "  for  factious  and  schismatical  demeanors." 

The  assembly,  alarmed  at  the  open  violation  of  the  natural 
and  prescriptive  "  freedoms  "  of  the  colony  by  the  navigation 
act,  appointed  Sir  William  Berkeley  its  agent,  to  present  its 
grievances  and  procure  their  redress  through  the  favor  of  its 
sovereign.  The  l^ew  England  states,  from  the  perpetual  dread 
of  royal  interference,  persevered  in  soliciting  charters,  till  they 
were  obtained  ;  Virginia,  unhappy  in  her  confidence,  lost  irrev- 
ocably the  opportunity  of  obtaining  a  liberal  patent. 

The  Ancient  Dominion  was  equally  unfortunate  in  the  se- 
lection of  its  agent.  Sir  William  Berkeley  did  not,  even  after 
years  of  experience,  understand  the  act  against  which  he  was 
deputed  to  expostulate.  We  have  seen  that  he  had  obtained 
for  himself  and  partners  a  dismemberment  of  the  territory  of 
Virginia ;  for  the  colony  he  did  not  secure  one  franchise ;  the 
king  employed  its  loyalty  to  its  injury.  At  the  hands  of 
Charles  II.,  the  democratic  colonies  of  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut received  greater  favor. 

For  more  than  a  year  the  navigation  act  was  virtually 
evaded ;  mariners  of  'New  England,  lading  their  vessels  w^ith 
tobacco,  did  but  touch  at  a  New  England  harbor  on  the  sound, 
and  immediately  sail  for  New  Amsterdam.  But  this  relief 
was  partial  and  transient.  The  act  of  navigation  could  easily 
be  executed  in  Virginia,  because  it  had  few  ships  of  its  own, 


1661-1663.     VIRGINIA'S  EEWARD  FOR  LOYALTY.  447 

and  no  foreign  vessel  dared  to  enter  its  ports.  The  unequal 
legislation  pressed  upon  its  interests  with  intense  severity. 
The  number  of  the  purchasers  of  its  tobacco  was  diminished ; 
and  the  English  factors,  sure  of  their  marke^  grew  careless 
about  the  quality  of  their  supplies.  To  the  colonist  as  con- 
sumer, the  price  of  foreign  goods  was  enhanced  ;  to  the  colo- 
nist as  producer,  the  opportunity  of  a  market  was  narrowed. 

Virginia  long  but  vainly  attempted  to  devise  a  remedy 
against  the  commercial  oppression  of  England.  It  was  the 
selfishness  of  the  strong  exercising  tyranny  over  the  weak  ;  no 
remedy  could  be  found  so  long  as  the  state  of  dependence 
continued.  The  burden  was  the  more  intolerable,  because  it 
was  established  exclusively  to  favor  the  monopoly  of  the  Eng- 
lish merchant ;  and  its  avails  were  all  abandoned  to  the  offi- 
cers to  stimulate  their  vigilance. 

Thus,  while  the  rising  aristocracy  of  Virginia  was  seeking 
the  aid  of  royal  influence  to  confirm  its  supremacy,  the  policy 
of  the  English  government  oppressed  colonial  industry  so  se- 
verely as  to  unite  the  province  in  opposition.  The  party 
which  joined  with  the  king  in  its  desire  to  gain  a  triumph 
over  democratic  influences  was  always  on  the  point  of  recon- 
ciling itself  with  the  people,  and  making  a  common  cause 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  metropolis. 

At  the  restoration,  the  extreme  royalist  party  acquired  the 
ascendency ;  and  the  assembly  effected  a  radical  change  in  the 
features  of  the  constitution.  The  committee  which  was  ap- 
pointed in  1662  to  reduce  the  laws  of  Virginia  to  a  code  re- 
pealed the  milder  laws  that  she  had  adopted  when  she  governed 
herseK.  The  English  Episcopal  church  became  once  more  the 
religion  of  the  state  ;  and  though  there  were  not  ministers  in 
above  a  fifth  part  of  the  parishes,  so  that  "  it  was  scattered  in 
the  desolate  places  of  the  wilderness  without  comeliness,"  yet 
the  laws  demanded  strict  conformity,  and  required  of  every 
one  to  contribute  to  its  support.  For  assessing  parish  taxes, 
twelve  vestrymen  were  to  be  chosen  in  each  parish,  with  power 
to  fill  all  vacancies  in  their  own  body.  The  control  in  church 
affairs  passed  from  the  parish  to  a  close  corporation,  which  the 
parish  could  henceforward  neither  alter  nor  overrule.  The 
v/hole  liturgy  was  required  to  be  thoroughly  read ;  no  non-con- 


448    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  x. 

formist  miglit  teach,  even  in  private,  under  pain  of  banishment ; 
no  reader  might  expound  the  catechism  or  the  scriptures.  The 
obsolete  severity  of  the  laws  of  Queen  Elizabeth  was  revived 
against  the  Quakers ;  their  absence  from  church  was  made 
punishable  by  a  monthly  fine  of  twenty  pounds  sterling.  To 
meet  in  conventicles  of  their  own  was  forbidden  under  further 
penalties.  In  April,  1662,  they  were  arraigned  before  the 
court  as  recusants.  "  Tender  consciences,"  said  Owen,  "  must 
obey  the  law  of  God,  however  they  suffer."  "  There  is  no 
toleration  for  wicked  consciences,"  was  the  reply  of  the  court. 
The  reformation  had  diminished  the  power  of  the  clergy  by 
declaring  marriage  a  civil  contract,  not  a  sacrament ;  Virginia 
suffered  no  marriage  to  be  celebrated  but  according  to  the 
rubric  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

Among  the  plebeian  sects  6f  Christianity,  the  single-minded 
simplicity  with  which  the  Baptists  had,  from  their  origin,  as- 
serted the  enfranchisement  of  mind  and  the  equal  rights  of 
the  humblest  classes  of  society,  naturally  won  converts  in 
America.  In  December,  1662,  the  legislature  of  Yirginia, 
assembling  soon  after  the  return  of  Berkeley  from  a  voyage 
that  had  been  fruitless  to  the  colony,  declared  to  the  world 
that  there  were  scattered  among  the  rude  settlements  of  the 
Ancient  Dominion  "  many  schismatical  persons,  so  averse  to 
the  established  religion,  and  so  filled  with  the  new-fangled 
conceits  of  their  own  heretical  inventions,  as  to  refuse  to  have 
their  children  baptized ;  "  and  the  novelty  was  punished  by  a 
heavy  mulct.  The  freedom  of  the  forests  favored  originality 
of  thought ;  in  spite  of  legislation,  men  listened  to  the  voice 
within  themselves  as  to  the  highest  authority ;  and  Quakers 
continued  to  multiply.  In  September,  1663,  Yirginia,  as  if 
resolved  to  hasten  the  colonization  of  North  Carolina,  sharp- 
ened her  laws  against  all  separatists,  punished  their  meetings 
by  heavy  fines,  and  ordered  the  more  affluent  to  pay  the  for- 
feitures of  the  poor.  The  colony  that  should  have  opened  its 
doors  wide  to  all  the  persecuted,  punished  the  ship-master  that 
received  non-conformists  as  passengers,  and  threatened  resident 
dissenters  with  banishment.  John  Porter,  the  burgess  for 
Lower  IS'orfolk,  was  expelled  from  the  assembly,  "  because  he 
was  well  affected  to  the  Quakers." 


1662-1663.     VIRGINIA'S   REWARD  FOR  LOYALTY.  449 

The  legislature  was  equally  friendly  to  the  power  of  the 
crown.  In  every  colony  where  Puritanism  prevailed,  there 
was  a  uniform  disposition  to  refuse  a  fixed  salary  to  the  royal 
governor.  Virginia,  in  1658,  vrhen  the  chief  magistrate  was 
elected  by  its  own  citizens,  had  voted  a  fixed  salary  for  that 
magistrate  ;  but  the  measure,  even  then,  was  so  little  agreeable 
to  the  people  that  its  next  assembly  repealed  the  law.  In 
1662,  the  royalist  legislature,  by  a  permanent  imposition  on  all 
exported  tobacco,  established  a  perpetual  revenue  for  the  pur- 
pose of  well  paying  the  royal  officers,  who  were  thus  made  inde- 
pendent of  colonial  legislation.  From  that  epoch,  the  country 
was  governed  according  to  royal  instructions,  which  did  indeed 
recognise  the  existence  of  colonial  assemblies,  but  offered  no 
guarantee  for  their  continuance.  The  permanent  salary  of  the 
governor  of  Virginia,  increased  by  a  special  grant  from  the 
colonial  legislature,  exceeded  the  whole  annual  expenditure 
of  Connecticut;  but  Berkeley  was  dissatisfied.  A  thousand 
pounds  a  year  would  not,  he  used  to  say,  "maintain  the  port 
of  his  place ;  no  government  of  ten  years'  standing  but  has 
thrice  as  much  allowed  him.  But  I  am  supported  by  my 
hopes  that  his  gracious  majesty  will  one  day  consider  me." 

All  branches  of  the  judicial  power  were  appointed,  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  by  the  crown.  In  each  county  eight  unpaid 
justices  of  the  peace  were  commissioned  by  the  governor  dur- 
ing his  pleasure.  These  justices  held  monthly  courts  in  their 
respective  counties.  The  governor  himself  and  his  executive 
council  constituted  the  highest  court,  and  had  cognizance  of 
all  classes  of  causes.  Was  an  appeal  made  to  chancery,  it  was 
but  for  another  hearing  before  tlie  same  men ;  and  only  a  few 
years  longer  were  appeals  permitted  from  the  governor  and 
council  to  the  assembly.  The  place  of  sheriff  in  each  county 
was  conferred  in  rotation  on  one  of  the  justices  for  that  county. 

The  county  courts,  thus  independent  of  the  people,  pos- 
sessed and  exercised  the  arbitrary  power  of  levying  county 
taxes,  which,  in  their  amount,  usually  exceeded  the  public 
levy.  This  system  proceeded  so  far  that  the  commissioners  of 
themselves  levied  taxes  to  meet  their  own  expenses.  In  like 
manner,  the  self -perpetuating  vestries  made  out  their  lists  of 
tithables,  and  assessed  taxes  without  regard  to  the  consent  of 


4:50      BKITISH  AMERICA  FEOM  1660  TO   1688.     part  ii. ;  ch.  x- 

the  parish.  These  private  levies  were  unequal  and  oppressive  ; 
were  seldom,  it  is  said  never,  brought  to  audit,  and  were,  in 
some  cases  at  least,  managed  by  men  who  combined  to  defraud 
the  public. 

A  series  of  innovations  gradually  effected  the  overthrow  of 
the  ancient  system  of  representation.  By  the  members  of  the 
iirst  assembly,  elected  after  the  restoration  for  a  period  of  two 
years  only,  the  law,  which  limited  the  duration  of  their  legis- 
lative service,  and  secured  the  benefits  of  frequent  elections 
and  swift  responsibility,  was,  in  1662,  "  utterly  abrogated  and 
repealed."  The  parliament  of  England,  chosen  on  the  resto- 
ration, was  not  dissolved  for  eighteen  years ;  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  showed  its  determination  to  retain  power  for  an 
indefinite  period.  Meantime,  "  the  people,  at  the  usual  places 
of  election,"  could  not  elect  burgesses,  but  only  present  their 
grievances  to  the  adjourned  assembly. 

The  pay  of  the  burgesses  had  been  defrayed  by  their  re- 
spective counties ;  and  was  thus  controlled  by  their  constitu- 
ents. The  self -continued  legislature,  in  a  law  which  fixed 
both  the  number  and  the  charge  of  the  burgesses,  established 
the  daily  pay  of  its  own  members  who  had  usurped  an  indefi- 
nite period  of  office,  not  less  than  that  of  its  successors,  at  an 
amount  of  tobacco  of  the  value  of  nine  dollars  in  coin.  The 
burden  was  intolerable  in  a  new  country,  where  at  that  time 
one  dollar  was  equal  at  least  to  four  in  the  present  day.  Dis- 
content was  increased  by  the  exemption  of  councillors  from 
the  levies. 

The  freedom  of  elections  was  further  impaired  by  "  fre- 
quent false  returns  "  made  by  the  sheriffs.  Against  these  the 
people  had  no  redress,  for  the  sheriffs  were  responsible  neither 
to  them  nor  to  officers  of  their  appointment. 

"No  direct  taxes  were  levied  in  those  days  except  on  polls. 
Berkeley,  in  1663,  had  urged  "  a  levy  upon  lands,  and  not 
upon  heads."  If  lands  should  be  taxed,  none  but  landhold- 
ers should  elect  the  legislature,  answered  the  assembly ;  and 
added :  "  The  other  freemen,  who  are  the  more  in  number, 
may  repine  to  be  bound  to  those  laws  they  have  no  repre- 
sentations to  assent  to  the  making  of.  And  we  are  so  well 
acquainted  with  the  temper  of  the  people  that  we  have  rea« 


J670-1673.     VIRGINIA'S  REWARD  FOR  LOYALTY.  451 

son  to  believe  they  had  rather  pay  their  tax  than  lose  that 
privilege." 

But  the  system  of  universal  suffrage  could  not  permanently 
find  favor  with  a  usurping  assembly  which  labored  to  repro- 
duce in  the  new  world  the  inequalities  of  English  legislation. 
It  was  discovered  that  "  the  usual  way  of  chusing  burgesses  by 
the  votes  of  all  freemen  "  produced  "  tumults  and  disturbance," 
and  would  lead  to  the  "  choyce  of  persons  not  fitly  qualified 
for  so  greate  a  trust."  The  restrictions  adopted  in  England 
were  cited  as  a  fit  precedent  for  English  colonies;  and,  in 
1670,  it  was  enacted  that  "  none  but  freeholders  and  house- 
keepers shall  hereafter  have  a  voice  in  the  election  of  any 
burgesses."  The  majority  of  the  people  of  "Virginia  were  dis- 
franchised by  the  act  of  self-constituted  representatives. 

The  unright  holders  of  legislative  power  in  the  Old  Do- 
minion took  care  to  do  notliing  for  the  culture  of  its  people. 
"  The  almost  general  want  of  schools  for  their  children  was  of 
most  sad  consideration,  most  of  all  bewailed  of  the  parents 
there."  ^'  Every  man,"  said  Sir  William  Berkeley,  in  1661, 
*' instructs  his  children  according  to  his  ability;"  a  method 
which  left  the  children  of  the  ignorant  to  hopeless  ignorance. 
"  The  ministers,"  continued  Sir  William,  "  should  pray  of  tener 
and  preach  less.  But,  I  thank  God,  there  are  no  free  schools 
nor  printing ;  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have,  these  hundred 
years ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience  and  heresy  and 
sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and  libels 
against  the  best  government.     God  keep  us  from  both." 

An  assembly  by  its  own  vote  continuing  for  an  indefinite 
period  at  the  pleasure  of  the  governor,  and  decreeing  to  its 
members  extravagant  and  burdensome  emoluments  ;  a  royal 
governor,  whose  salary  was  established  by  a  permanent  system 
of  taxation ;  a  constituency  restricted  and  diminished  ;  relig- 
ious liberty  taken  away  almost  as  soon  as  it  had  been  won ; 
arbitrary  taxation,  in  the  parishes  by  close  vestries,  in  the 
counties  by  uncontrolled  magistrates;  a  hostility  to  popular 
education  and  to  the  press — these  were  the  changes  which,  in 
a  period  of  ten  years,  had  been  wrought  by  a  usurping  gov- 
ernment. 

Meantime,  the  beauty  and  richness  of  the  province  were 


4:52     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  oh.  x.- 

becoming  better  known.  Toward  the  end  of  May,  1670,  the 
governor  of  Virginia  sent  ont  an  exploring  party  to  discover 
the  country  beyond  the  mountains,  which,  it  was  believed, 
would  open  a  way  to  the  South  sea.  The  Blue  Eidge  they 
found  high  and  rocky,  and  thickly  grown  with  wood.  Early 
in  June  they  were  stopped  by  a  river,  which  they  guessed  to 
be  four  hundred  and  fifty  yards  wide.  It  was  very  rapid  and 
full  of  rocks,  running,  so  far  as  they  could  see,  due  north  be- 
tween the  hills,  "  with  banks  in  most  places,"  according  to 
their  computation,  "  one  thousand  yards  high."  Beyond  the 
river  they  reported  other  hills,  naked  of  wood,  broken  by 
white  cliffs,  which  in  the  morning  were  covered  with  a  thick 
fog.  The  report  of  the  explorers  did  not  destroy  the  confi- 
dence that  those  mountains  contained  silver  or  gold,  nor  that 
there  were  rivers  "  falling  the  other  way  into  the  ocean."  In 
the  autumn  of  the  next  year  the  exploration  of  the  valley  of 
Kanawha  was  continued. 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  was  to  Virginia  a  political 
revolution,  reversing,  in  the  interests  of  monarchy,  the  princi- 
ples of  popular  and  religious  liberty,  and  the  course  of  humane 
legislation  on  which  she  had  entered  during  the  period  of  the 
republic.  It  seemed  to  have  gained  a  title  to  the  favor  of  the 
king,  and  yet  they  found  themselves  more  shamelessly  neg- 
lected than  any  one  of  the  more  stubborn  and  less  loyal  colo- 
nies. Their  rights  and  their  property  were  unscrupulously 
trifled  away  by  the  wantonly  careless  and  disreputable  exer- 
cise of  the  royal  prerogative.  In  1649,  just  after  the  execu- 
tion of  Charles  I.,  during  the  despair  of  the  royalists,  a  patent 
for  the  Northern  Neck,  that  is,  for  the  country  between  the 
Kappahannock  and  the  Potomac,  had  been  granted  to  a  com- 
pany of  cavaliers  as  a  refuge.  About  nine  years  after  the 
restoration,  this  patent  was  surrendered,  that  a  new  one  might 
be  issued  to  Lord  Culpepper,  who  had  succeeded  in  acquiring 
the  shares  of  all  the  associates.  The  grant  was  extremely  op- 
pressive, for  it  included  plantations  which  had  long  been  cul- 
tivated. But  the  prodigality  of  the  king  was  not  exhausted. 
To  Lord  Culpepper,  one  of  the  most  cunning  and  most  covet- 
ous men  in  England,  at  the  time  a  member  of  the  commission 
for  trade  and  plantations,  and  to  Henry,  earl  of  Arlington,  the 


1674-1676.     VIEGINIA'S  REWARD  FOR   LOYALTY.  45B 

best-bred  person  at  the  royal  court,  fatlier-in-law  to  the  king's 
son  bv  Lady  Castlemaine,  ever  in  debt  exceedingly,  and  pas- 
sionately fond  of  things  rich,  polite,  and  princely,  he  gave,  in 
1673,  "  all  the  dominion  of  land  and  water  called  Virginia," 
for  the  term  of  thirty-one  years. 

The  usurping  assembly,  composed  in  a  great  part  of  opu- 
lent landholders,  was  roused  by  these  thoughtless  grants ;  and, 
in  September,  1674,  Francis  Moryson,  Thomas  Ludwell,  and 
Robert  Smith,  were  appointed  agents  to  sail  for  England,  and 
enter  on  the  difficult  duty  of  recovering  for  the  king  the  su- 
premacy which  he  had  so  foolishly  dallied  away.  "  We  are 
unwilling,"  said  the  assembly,  "  and  conceive  we  ought  not  to 
subniit  to  those  to  whom  his  majesty,  upon  misinformation, 
hath  granted  the  dominion  over  us,  who  do  most  contentedly 
pay  to  his  majesty  more  than  we  have  ourselves  for  our  labor. 
Whilst  we  labor  for  the  advantage  of  the  crown,  and  do  wish 
we  could  be  yet  more  advantageous  to  the  king  and  nation,  we 
humbly  request  not  to  be  subjected  to  our  fellow-subjects,  but, 
for  the  future,  to  be  secured  from  our  fears  of  being  enslaved." 
Berkeley's  commission  as  governor  had  expired ;  the  legislat- 
ure, which  had  already  voted  him  a  special  increase  of  salary, 
and  which  had  continued  itself  in  power  by  his  connivance, 
solicited  his  appointment  as  governor  for  life. 

The  envovs  of  Yiro^inia  were  instructed  to  ask  for  the  col- 
ony  the  immunities  of  a  corporation  which  could  resist  further 
encroachments,  and,  according  to  the  forms  of  English  law, 
purchase  of  the  grantees  their  rights  to  the  country.  The 
agents  fulfilled  their  instructions,  and  asserted  the  natural  lib- 
erties of  the  colonists. 

We  arrive  at  the  moment  when  almost  for  the  last  time 
the  old  spirit  of  English  liberty,  such  as  had  been  cherished 
by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  and  Southampton  and  Ferrar,  flashed 
Up  in  the  government  of  the  Stuarts.  Among  the  heads 
of  the  charter  which  the  agents  of  Virginia  were  command- 
ed by  their  instructions  to  entreat  of  the  king,  it  was  pro- 
posed "  that  there  should  be  no  tax  or  imposition  laid  on  the 
people  of  Virginia  but  by  their  own  consent,  expressed  by 
their  representatives  in  assembly  as  formerly  provided  by 
many  acts."     "  This,"  wrote  Lord  Coventry,  or  one  who  ex- 


454     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paet  n. ;  ch.  x. 

pressed  his  opinion,  "this  I  jndge  absolutely  necessary  for 
their  well-being,  and  what  in  effect  Magna  Charta  gives ;  and 
besides,  as  they  conceive,  will  secure  them  from  being  subject 
to  a  double  jurisdiction,  viz.,  the  lawes  of  an  English  parlia- 
ment where  they  have  noe  representatives."  The  subject  was 
referred  by  an  order  in  council  to  Sir  William  Jones  and 
Francis  Winnington,  the  attorney  and  solicitor  general ;  and, 
in  their  report  of  the  twelfth  of  October,  1675,  they  adopted 
the  clause  in  its  fullest  extent,  with  no  restriction  except  the 
provision  "  that  the  concession  bee  noe  bar  to  any  imposition 
that  may  bee  laid  by  acts  of  parliament  here,"  that  is,  in  Eng- 
land, "  on  the  commodities  which  come  from  that  country." 
At  Whitehall,  on  the  nineteenth  of  ISTovember,  this  report  was 
submitted  to  the  king  in  council,  who  declared  himself  inclined 
to  give  his  subjects  in  Virginia  all  due  encouragement ;  and 
directed  letters-patent  to  be  prepared  confirming  all  things  in 
the  report.  The  charter  was  prepared  as  decreed,  and,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  April,  1676,  it  was  ordered  by  the  king  in  coun- 
cil "  that  the  lord  chancellor  doe  cause  the  said  grant  to  pass 
under  the  great  scale  of  England  accordingly."  In  the  prog- 
ress of  their  suit,  the  agents  of  Yirginia  were  thankful  for  the 
support  of  Coventry,  whom  they  extolled  as  one  of  the  worth- 
iest of  men.  They  owned  the  aid  of  Jones  and  Winnington ; 
and  they  had  the  voices  "  of  many  great  friends,"  won  by  a 
sense  of  humanity,  or  submitting  to  be  bribed.  But  a  stronger 
influence  was  secretly  and  permanently  embodied  in  favor  of 
a  despotic  administration  of  the  colonies,  with  the  consequent 
chances  of  great  emoluments  to  courtiers.  On  the  thirty-first 
of  May,  the  king  in  council  reversed  his  decree,  and  ordered 
that  "  the  lord  high  chancellor  of  England  doe  forbeare  put- 
ting the  great  scale  to  the  patent  concerning  Yirginia,  not- 
withstanding the  late  order  of  the  nineteenth  April  last  past." 
The  irrevocable  decision  against  the  grant  of  a  charter  was 
made  before  the  news  reached  England  of  events  which  in- 
volved the  Ancient  Dominion  in  gloom. 


1674.  THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  455 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   GREAT   REBELLION    IN    VIRGINIA. 

At  the  time  when  the  envoys  were  appointed,  Virginia 
was  rocking  with  the  griefs  that  grew  out  of  its  domestic  op- 
pressions. The  rapid  and  effectual  abridgment  of  its  popular 
liberties,  joined  to  the  uncertain  tenure  of  property  that  fol- 
lowed the  announcement  of  the  royal  grants,  would  have 
roused  any  nation ;  how  much  more  a  people  like  the  Vir- 
ginians !  The  generation  now  in  existence  were  chiefly  the 
children  of  the  soil,  nurtured  in  the  freedom  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Of  able-bodied  freemen,  the  number  was  estimated  at 
not  far  from  eight  thousand.  'No  newspapers  entered  their 
houses  ;  no  printing-press  furnished  them  a  book.  They  had 
no  recreations  but  such  as  nature  provides  in  her  wilds ;  no 
education  but  such  as  parents  in  the  desert  would  give  their 
offspring.  The  paths  were  bridleways  rather  than  roads ;  and 
the  highway  surveyors  aimed  at  nothing  more  than  to  keep 
them  clear  of  logs  and  fallen  trees.  There  was  not  an  engi- 
neer in  the  country.  I  doubt  if  there  existed  what  we  should 
call  a  bridge  in  the  whole  dominion.  Visits  were  made  in 
boats  or  on  horseback ;  and  the  Virginian,  travelling  with  his 
pouch  of  tobacco  for  currency,  swam  the  rivers,  where  there 
was  neither  ferry  nor  ford.  Almost  every  planter  was  his  own 
mechanic.  The  houses,  for  the  most  part  of  but  one  story, 
and  made  of  wood,  often  of  logs,  the  windows  closed  by  shut- 
ters for  want  of  glass,  were  sprinkled  at  great  distances  on 
both  sides  of  the  Chesapeake.  There  was  hardly  such  a  sight 
as  a  cluster  of  three  dwellings.  Jamestown  was  but  a  place 
of  a  state  house,  one  church,  and  eighteen  houses,  occupied  by 
about  a  dozen  families.     Till  very  recently,  the  legislature 


456     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.    paet  ii. ;  ch.  xi, 

had  assembled  in  the  hall  of  an  ale-house.  YirgiDia  had  nei- 
ther towns  nor  lawyers.  As  to  shipping,  there  were  as  yet 
no  more  than  two  vessels,  and  these  not  above  twenty  tons' 
burden.  A  few  of  the  wealthier  planters  lived  in  braver  state 
at  their  large  plantations,  surrounded  by  indented  servants 
and  slaves.  The  inventory  of  Sir  William  Berkeley  gave  him 
seventy  horses,  as  well  as  large  flocks  of  sheep.  '^Almost 
every  man  lived  within  sight  of  a  lovely  river."  The  parish 
embraced  a  tract  which  a  day's  journey  could  not  cross,  so 
that  the  people  met  together  but  once  on  the  Lord's  Day,  and 
sometimes  not  at  all ;  the  church,  rudely  built  in  some  central 
solitude,  was  seldom  visited  by  the  more  remote  families,  and 
was  liable  to  become  inaccessible  by  broken  limbs  from  for- 
est trees,  or  the  wanton  growth  of  underwood  and  thickets. 

Here  was  a  new  form  of  human  nature.  A  love  of  freedom 
inclining  to  anarchy  pervaded  the  country ;  loyalty  was  a  fee- 
bler passion  than  the  love  of  liberty.  Existence  "without 
government "  seemed  to  promise  to  "  the  general  mass  " — it 
is  a  genuine  Yirginia  sentiment — "  a  greater  degree  of  happi- 
ness "  than  the  tyranny  "  of  the  European  governments." 
Men  feared  oppression  more  than  they  feared  disorder.  In 
the  Old  World,  the  peasantry  crowded  together  into  compact 
villages ;  the  yeomen  of  Yirginia  lived  very  widely  asunder, 
rarely  meeting  in  numbers  except  at  the  horse-race  or  the 
county  court. 

It  was  among  such  a  people,  which  had  never  been  disci- 
plined to  resistance  by  the  heresies  of  religious  sects,  which, 
till  the  restoration,  had  found  the  wilderness  a  safe  protec- 
tion against  tyranny,  and  had  enjoyed  "  a  fifty  years'  experi- 
ence of  a  government  easy  to  the  people,"  that  the  pressure 
of  increasing  grievances  excited  open  discontent.  Men  gath- 
ered together  in  the  forests  to  talk  of  their  hardships.  A  col- 
lision between  that  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  which 
misused  the  royal  prerogative  for  their  own  selfish  purposes 
and  the  great  mass  of  the  numbers  and  wealth  of  the  country 
was  at  hand. 

In  1674,  on  the  first  spontaneous  movement,  the  men  of 
wealth  and  established  consideration  kept  aloof.  It  was  easily 
suppressed  by  the  calm  advice  "  of  some  discreet  persons,"  in 


1674^1676.    THE   GEEAT  KEBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  457 

whom  the  discontented  had  confidence.  Yet  it  was  not  with- 
out effect ;  the  county  commissioners  were  ordered  to  levy  no 
more  taxes  for  their  own  emoluments.  But,  as  the  great  abuses 
continued  unreformed,  the  murmurs  were  not  quieted.  The 
common  people  were  rendered  desperate  by  taxes,  which,  be- 
ing levied  on  polls,  deprived  labor  of  nearly  all  its  earnings. 
To  produce  an  insurrection,  nothing  was  wanting  but  an  ex- 
cuse for  appearing  in  arms. 

The  causes  which  had  driven  the  red  men  of  New  England 
to  despair  acted  with  equal  force  on  the  natives  of  Yirginia. 
The  Seneca  tribe  of  the  Five  Nations  had  chased  the  Sus- 
quehannahs  from  their  abode  at  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake 
to  the  vicinity  of  Piscataway  on  the  Potomac;  and  Mary- 
land had  terminated  a  war  with  them  and  their  confederates. 
In  July,  1675,  a  party  of  them,  crossing  from  the  Maryland 
to  the  Yirginia  shore,  pillaged  a  plantation  whose  owner  they 
charged  with  having  defrauded  them  in  trade.  They  were 
pursued,  overtaken,  stripped  of  their  spoils,  and  beaten  or 
killed.  To  be  revenged  on  the  planter,  Indian  warriors  killed 
two  of  his  servants  and  his  son.  A  party  of  thirty  Yirginians 
under  Brent  and  Mason  followed  them  across  the  river,  and 
killed  a  chief  and  ten  of  his  men,  while  the  rest  fled  for  their 
lives.  The  governor  of  Maryland  complained  to  Sir  William 
Berkeley  of  the  violation  of  his  jurisdiction.  Meantime,  the 
Indians,  having  obtained  a  wonderful  skill  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms, built  a  fort  within  the  border  of  Maryland,  and  grew  bold 
and  formidable.  Yirginia  and  Maryland  volunteers  joined 
together,  and  for  seven  weeks  besieged  the  fort,  losing  many 
men.  When  five  of  the  chiefs  came  out  to  treat  for  peace,  they 
were  kept  prisoners,  and  at  last  put  to  death.  The  besieged 
made  their  escape  by  night  with  their  wives  and  children  and 
valuable  goods,  wounding  and  killing  some  of  the  English  at 
their  going  off.  They  then  spread  themselves  from  the  little 
falls  of  the  Potomac  to  the  falls  of  James  river,  carrying  ter- 
ror to  every  grange ;  murdering  in  blind  fury,  till  their  pas- 
sions were  glutted ;  killing  at  one  time  thirty-six  persons ;  and 
then  escaping  to  the  woods. 

When  this  intelligence  was  received,  a  competent  force  of 
horse  and  foot,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Henry  Chicheley, 

VOL.  I. — 31 


4:58    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  oh.  xi. 

was  ordered  to  pursue  the  murderers,  with  full  power  to 
make  peace  or  war.  But  no  sooner  were  the  men  in  readiness 
to  march  than  Berkeley,  who  had  a  monopoly  of  the  very 
lucrative  Indian  trade,  suddenly  recalled  the  commission,  dis- 
banded the  men,  and,  referring  the  matter  to  the  next  assem- 
bly, left  the  frontier  defenceless.  As  a  consequence,  the 
country  was  laid  waste  ;  one  parish  in  Rappahannock  county, 
which,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  January,  1676,  consisted  of 
seventy- one  plantations,  was,  within  the  next  seventeen  days, 
reduced  to  eleven.  In  the  twelve  months  preceding  March 
of  that  year,  "  three  hundred  Christian  persons  "  of  Virginia 
were  murdered  by  the  red  men.  The  assembly,  when  it  came 
together,  did  nothing  to  prevent  these  massacres  but  to  order 
forts  to  be  built  on  the  heads  of  rivers  and  on  the  frontiers  of 
the  country.  The  measure  was  universally  disliked,  as  one 
attended  by  great  expense,  and  bringing  no  security  ;  for,  by 
help  of  the  thick  woods,  swamps,  and  other  covert,  the  Indians 
could  pass  any  fort  at  their  pleasure,  and  their  murders,  ra- 
pines, and  outrages  became  the  more  barbarous,  fierce,  and 
frequent.  Many  remote  plantations  were  deserted  or  de- 
stroyed. Death  ranged  the  land  under  the  hideous  forms  of 
savage  cruelty. 

The  people,  who  believed  the  system  of  forts  to  be  "  a  jug- 
gle of  the  grandees  to  engross  all  the  tobacco,"  the  Virginia 
currency,  "  into  their  own  hands,"  asked  leave  at  their  own 
charge  to  go  out  against  the  Indians  under  any  commander 
whom  the  governor  would  appoint.  Instead  of  granting  their 
request,  he  forbade,  by  proclamation,  under  a  heavy  penalty, 
the  like  petitioning  in  the  future,  and  even  gave  orders  to 
the  garrisons  of  the  foiis  to  undertake  nothing  against  the 
enemy  without  first  making  a  report  to  him  and  receiving  his 
special  orders.  The  refusal  confirmed  the  jealousy  that  he 
was  swayed  by  avarice,  for,  after  prohibiting  by  proclamation 
all  trade  with  the  Indians,  they  complained  that  he  privately 
gave  commissions  to  his  friends  to  truck  with  them  ;  and  that 
these  persons  furnished  them  with  more  powder  and  shot  than 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  planters. 

The  governor  received  news  that  formidable  bodies  of 
red  men  were  coming  down  the  James  river,  and  were  al- 


1676.  THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  459 

ready  within  about  fifty  miles  of  the  plantations ;  yet,  swayed 
by  the  interests  of  himself  and  colonial  courtiers,  he  still  refused 
to  commission  any  one  to  resist  them.  The  people  of  Charles 
City  county,  therefore,  exercising  the  natural  right  of  self- 
defence,  with  the  silent  assent  of  the  magistrates,  beat  up  for 
volunteers,  who,  as  they  assembled,  wanted  nothing  but  a 
leader.  It  happened  that  Nathaniel  Bacon  had  arrived  in 
that  part  of  the  world  about  fourteen  months  before.  He 
was  of  an  ancient  family  and  an  only  son.  Born  during  the 
contests  between  the  parliament  and  Charles  I.,  nursed  amidst 
the  struggles  of  the  democratic  revolution,  he  had  studied  in 
the  inns  of  court,  and  had  travelled  widely  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  When  about  three-and-thirty  years  of  age,  he  was 
seized  with  a  desire  to  see  the  New  World,  and  came  over  to 
Yirginia  with  a  large  capital.  His  birth,  his  culture,  and  his 
fortune  obtained  for  him,  immediately  on  his  arrival,  a  seat  in 
the  council ;  and  this  honor  raised  his  consideration  with  the 
people.  In  person  he  was  tall  but  slender,  of  a  pensive  cast 
of  features,  inclined  to  silence,  discreet  in  speech,  and  not 
given  to  sudden  replies  ;  of  a  pleasing  address  and  a  comr 
manding  power  of  elocution.  Discoursing  with  two  Virgin- 
ians on  the  sadness  of  the  times,  the  danger  from  the  Susque- 
hannahs,  by  whom,  among  others,  his  overseer  had  been  mur-- 
dered  on  his  plantation,  near  where  the  city  of  Richmond  now 
towers  above  flood  and  vale,  they  persuaded  him  to  go  over 
and  see  the  volunteers  collected  on  the  other  side  of  the 
James  river.  As  he  came  among  them,  of  a  sudden,  without 
any  previous  knowledge  on  his  part,  they  all  with  one  voice 
shouted,  "  A  Bacon !  a  Bacon ! ''  and  prevailed  upon  him  to 
become  their  chief.  His  consent  cheered  and  animated  them, 
for  they  looked  upon  him  as  the  great  friend  and  preserver  of 
the  country.  On  his  side,  he  set  forth  his  purpose  not  only  t6 
destroy  the  common  enemy,  but  to  recover  their  liberties  and 
to  obtain  the  redress  of  unjust  taxes  and  laws.  The  volun- 
teers severally  wrote  their  names  in  a  round-robin,  aud  took 
an  oath  to  stick  fast  to  one  another  and  to  him.  The  county 
of  New  Kent  was  ripe  to  take  part  with  them.  '      :    j 

Berkeley  would  grant  no  permission  to  them  to  rise  and 
protect  themselves.     Then  followed  just  indignation  at  mis* 


460    BRITISH  AMERICA   FROM  1660  TO   1688.    partii.;  oh.  xi. 

spent  entreaties ;  and,  as  soon  as  Bacon  had  three  hundred 
men  in  arms,  he  led  them  against  the  Indians.  At  the  same 
time,  his  abilities  gave  the  ascendency  to  the  principles  which 
he  espoused. 

Moderation  on  the  part  of  the  government  would  have 
restored  peace.  Sober  men  in  Virginia  were  of  opinion  that 
a  few  concessions — the  secure  possession  of  land,  the  liberties 
of  free-born  subjects  of  England,  a  diminution  of  the  public 
expenses,  a  tax  on  real  estate  rather  than  on  polls  alone— 
would  have  quieted  the  colony.  But  hardly  had  Bacon  begun 
his  march,  when  Berkeley,  yielding  to  the  instigations  of  a 
very  small  number  of  a  selfish  faction,  proclaimed  him  and 
his  followers  rebels,  and  levied  troops  to  pursue  them.  As  a 
consequence,  a  new  insurrection  compelled  the  governor  to 
return  to  Jamestown.  The  lower  counties  had  risen  in  arms, 
and  demanded  the  "  immediate  dissolution  "  of  the  old  assem- 
bly, to  which  they  ascribed  their  griefs. 

With  the  mass  of  the  people  against  him,  the  testy  cavalier 
was  constrained  to  yield.  The  self- continued  assembly,  which 
had  become  hateful  by  its  long  usurpation,  the  selfishness  of 
its  members,  and  its  subversion  of  popular  freedom,  was  dis- 
solved ;  writs  for  a  new  election  were  issued ;  and  Bacon, 
returning  in  triumph  from  his  Indian  warfare,  was  unani- 
mously elected  a  burgess  from  Henrico  county. 

In  the  choice  of  this  assembly,  which  went  by  the  name 
of  Bacon,  the  late  disfranchisement  of  freemen  was  little 
regarded.  A  majority  of  the  members  returned  were  "  much 
infected "  with  the  principles  of  Bacon  ;  and  their  speaker, 
Thomas  Godwin,  was  notoriously  a  friend  to  all  "  the  rebellion 
and  treason  which  distracted  Virginia."  In  the  midst  of  con- 
tradictory testimony  on  their  character,  the  acts  of  the  assem- 
bly in  June  must  be  taken  as  paramount  authority  on  the 
purposes  of  "  the  Grand  Bebellion  in  Virginia." 

The  late  expenditures  of  public  money  had  not  been  ac- 
counted for.  High  debates  arose  on  the  wrongs  of  the 
indigent,  who  were  oppressed  by  taxes  alike  unequal  and 
exorbitant.  The  monopoly  of  the  Indian  trade  was  sus- 
pended. A  compromise  with  the  insurgents  was  effected  ;  on 
the  one  hand,  Bacon  acknowledged  his  error  in  acting  with- 


1676.  THE   GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  461 

out  a  commission,  and  the  assemblies  of  disaffected  persons 
were  censured  as  acts  of  mutiny  and  rebellion ;  on  the  other, 
he  was  restored  to  favor,  readmitted  into  the  council,  and 
promised  a  commission  as  general,  to  the  universal  satisfaction 
of  the  people,  who  made  the  town  ring  with  their  joyous 
acclamations  at  the  appointment  of  "the  darling  of  their 
hopes"  to  be  the  defender  of  Yirginia.  The  church  aris- 
tocracy was  broken  up  by  limiting  the  term  of  office  of  the 
vestrymen  to  three  years,  and  reviving  the  election  of  them 
by  the  freemen  of  each  parish.  The  elective  franchise  was 
restored  to  the  freemen  whom  the  previous  assembly  had  dis- 
franchised ;  and,  as  "  false  returns  of  sheriffs  had  endangered 
the  peace,"  the  purity  of  elections  was  guarded  by  wholesome 
penalties.  The  arbitrary  annual  assessments,  hitherto  made 
by  county  magistrates,  irresponsible  to  the  people,  were  pro- 
hibited ;  the  Virginians  insisted  on  the  exclusive  right  of  tax- 
ing themselves,  and  made  provision  for  the  county  levy  by  the 
vote  of  their  own  representatives.  The  fees  of  the  governor, 
in  cases  of  probate  and  administration,  were  curtailed ;  the 
unequal  immunities  of  councillors  were  abrogated  ;  the  sale  of 
wines  and  ardent  spirits  was  absolutely  prohibited  ;  two  of  the 
magistrates,  notorious  for  raising  county  taxes  for  their  pri- 
vate gains,  were  disfranchised ;  and  finally,  that  there  might 
be  no  room  for  future  reproach  or  discord,  all  past  derelictions 
were  covered  by  a  general  amnesty. 

The  measures  of  the  assembly  were  not  willingly  conceded 
by  Berkeley,  who  refused  to  sign  the  commission  that  had 
been  promised.  Fearing  treachery,  Bacon  secretly  withdrew, 
to  recount  his  wrongs  to  the  people ;  and  in  a  few  days  he 
reappeared  in  the  city  at  the  head  of  nearly  five  hundred 
armed  men,  whom  he  paraded  in  front  of  the  state  house. 
The  governor,  rising  from  the  chair  of  judicature,  came  down 
to  him,  and  told  him  to  his  face,  and  before  all  his  men,  that 
he  was  a  rebel  and  a  traitor,  and  should  have  no  commission ; 
and,  uncovering  his  naked  bosom,  required  that  some  of  the 
men  might  shoot  him,  before  ever  he  would  be  drawn  to  sign 
or  consent  to  a  commission  for  such  a  rebel.  "  iNTo,"  continued 
Berkeley,  "  let  us  first  try  and  end  the  difference  singly  be- 
tween ourselves,"  and  offered  to  measure  swords  with  him. 


4:62    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  ch.  xr. 

To  the  challenge  Bacon  gave  only  this  answer :  *'  Sir,  I  came 
not  nor  intend  to  hurt  a  hair  of  your  head,  and,  for  your 
sword,  your  honor  may  please  to  put  it  up ;  it  shall  rust  in  the 
scabbard  before  ever  I  shall  desire  you  to  draw  it.  I  come 
for  a  commission  against  the  heathen,  who  daily  inhumanly 
murder  us,  and  spill  our  brethren's  blood,  and  no  care  is  taken 
to  prevent  it."  When  passion  had  subsided,  Berkeley  yielded. 
The  commission  was  issued;  the  governor  united  with  the 
burgesses  and  council  in  transmitting  to  England  warm  com- 
mendations of  the  zeal,  loyalty,  and  patriotism  of  Bacon,  and 
the  ameliorating  legislation  of  the  assembly  was  ratified.  That 
better  legislation  was  completed,  according  to  the  new  style  of 
computation,  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1676,  just  one  hun- 
dred years,  to  a  day,  before  the  congress  of  the  United  States, 
adopting  the  declaration  framed  by  a  statesman  of  Virginia, 
marked  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  race. 

A  momentary  joy  pervaded  the  colony.  Encouraged  by 
the  active  energy  of  their  general,  men  scoured  the  forests  and 
the  swamps,  wherever  an  Indian  ambush  could  lie  concealed, 
though  not  without  incurring  the  censure  of  failing  to  spare 
friendly  tribes.  But  just  as  the  army,  which  he  had  collected 
at  the  falls  of  James  river,  was  preparing  to  march  against  the 
savages,  the  governor  violated  the  amnesty.  Repairing  to 
Gloucester  county,  the  most  populous  and  most  loyal  in  Yir- 
ginia,  he  summoned  a  convention  of  its  inhabitants.  With 
great  unanimity  "  the  whole  convention  "  disrelished  his  pro- 
posals, and  saw  in  the  object  of  his  hatred  the  defender  of 
their  countrymen ;  but  against  the  advice  of  the  most  loyal 
county  in  Virginia,  and  against  his  own  unqualified  pledges  to 
the  colonial  assembly  which  he  might  have  dissolved,  the  petu- 
lant governor  once  more  declared  Bacon  and  his  men  rebels 
and  traitors,  and  endeavored  to  raise  forces  to  go  and  surprise 
them. 

The  news  was  conveyed  to  the  camp  by  Drummond,  the 
former  governor  of  E'orth  Carolina,  and  by  Richard  Lawrence, 
a  pupil  of  Oxford,  distinguished  for  learning  and  sobriety,  a 
man  of  reflection  and  energy.  "  It  vexes  me  to  the  heart," 
said  Bacon,  "  that,  while  I  am  hunting  the  wolves  and  tigers 
that  destroy  our  lambs,  I  should  myself  be  pursued  as  a  savage. 


1676.  THE  GREAT   REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  463 

Shall  persons  wholly  devoted  to  their  king  and  country — men 
hazarding  their  lives  against  the  public  enemy — deserve  the 
appellation  of  rebels  and  traitors  ?  The  whole  country  is  wit- 
ness to  our  peaceable  behavior.  But  those  in  authority,  how 
have  they  obtained  their  estates  ?  Have  they  not  devoured 
the  common  treasury  ?  What  arts,  what  sciences,  what  schools 
of  learning,  have  they  promoted  ?  I  appeal  to  the  king  and 
parliament,  where  the  cause  of  the  people  will  be  heard  im- 
partially." 

Bacon  had  already  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  suprem- 
acy, and  his  soldiers  freely  complied  with  his  wish  that  they 
should  do  the  like.  He  now  caused  the  drums  to  beat  and 
trumpets  to  sound  for  calling  his  men  together.  Appealing 
to  their  consciences  as  the  best  witnesses  of  their  right  inten- 
tions, he  proposed  to  descend  the  river  and  demand  why  the 
governor  and  his  few  friends  should  betray  the  lives  of  the 
troops  whom  they  themselves  had  levied  to  preserve  them 
against  the  fury  of  the  heathen.  To  this  they  all  cried : 
*'  Amen.  We  are  ready."  So  by  this  fatal  recall,  the  troops, 
who  were  on  the  point  of  marching  out  against  the  Indians, 
turned  their  swords  to  their  own  defence.  The  great  industry 
and  endeavors  of  the  governor  to  raise  a  force  against  Bacon 
were  in  vain.  His  interest  proved  so  w^eak  and  his  friends  so 
few  that  he  grew  sick  of  the  essay,  and,  "  with  very  grief  and 
sadness  of  spirit  for  so  bad  success,  fainted  away  on  horseback 
in  "  their  presence.  Hearing  of  Bacon's  approach  to  Glouces- 
ter, he  fled  to  Accomack. 

The  field  being  his  own.  Bacon  led  his  men  to  Middle 
Plantation,  now  Williamsburg,  "  the  very  heart  and  center  of 
the  country,"  and  there  he  established  his  quarters.  The 
condition  of  himself  and  his  followers  was  become  critical. 
Drummond  advised  that  Berkeley  should  be  deposed,  and  Sir 
Henry  Chicheley  substituted  as  governor.  The  counsel  was 
disliked.  "  Do  not  make  so  strange  of  it,"  said  Drummond ; 
"  for  I  can  show,  from  ancient  records,  that  such  things  have 
been  done  in  Virginia."  Besides,  the  period  of  ten  years,  for 
which  Berkeley  was  appointed,  had  already  expired.  After 
much  discussion,  it  was  agreed  that  the  retreat  of  the  governor 
should  be  taken  for  an  abdication ;  and  Bacon,  who  had  been 


464:    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  xi 

a  member  of  the  council,  with  four  of  his  colleagues,  sent 
forth  a  proclamation  "  inviting  the  gentlemen  of  Virginia  to 
come  in  and  consult  with  him  for  the  present  settlement  of 
his  majesty's  distracted  colony,  to  preserve  its  future  peace, 
and  to  advance  the  effectual  prosecuting  of  the  Indian  war." 

The  discontent  increased  throughout  the  province,  when, 
after  a  year's  patience  under  accumulated  oppressions,  the 
envoys  of  the  colonies,  themselves  by  their  heavy  expenses 
a  new  burden,  reported  no  hope  of  a  charter  or  any  remedy 
of  their  grievances  from  England.  The  call  to  Virginia  was 
answered  ;  none  were  willing  to  sit  idle  in  the  time  of  general 
calamity.  Her  most  eminent  men  came  together  at  Middle 
Plantation.  Bacon  excelled  them  all  in  argument ;  the  public 
mind  was  swayed  by  his  judgment,  and  an  oath  was  taken  by 
the  whole  convention  to  support  him  against  the  Indians,  and, 
if  possible,  to  prevent  a  civil  war ;  should  the  governor  per- 
severe in  his  obstinate  self-will,  to  protect  him  against  every 
armed  force  ;  and  even  if  troops  should  arrive  from  England, 
to  resist  them,  till  an  appeal  could  reach  the  king  in  person. 
Copies  of  this  oath  were  sent  to  the  counties  of  Virginia ;  and 
by  the  magistrates,  and  others  of  the  respective  precincts,  it 
was  administered  to  the  people,  "  none,  or  very  few,  refusing." 
The  wives  of  Virginia  statesmen  shared  the  enthusiasm. 
"  The  child  that  is  unborn,"  said  Sarah  Drummond,  ^'  a  noto- 
rious and  wicked  rebel,"  "  shall  have  cause  to  rejoice  for  the 
good  that  will  come  by  the  rising  of  the  country."  "  Should 
we  overcome  the  governor,"  said  Ralph  Weldinge,  "  we  must 
expect  a  greater  power  from  England,  that  would  certainly  be 
our  ruin."  Sarah  Drummond  remembered  that  England  was 
divided  into  hostile  factions  for  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth.  Taking  from  the  ground  a  small  stick, 
she  broke  it  in  twain,  adding  :  "  I  fear  the  power  of  England 
no  more  than  a  broken  straw."  Relief  from  the  hated  navi- 
gation acts  seemed  certain.  Now  "we  can  build  ships,"  it 
was  urged,  "  and,  like  'New  England,  trade  to  any  part  of  the 
world." 

Fortified  by  the  unanimity  of  the  gentlemen  of  Virginia 
assembled  at  Williamsburg,  and  of  the  people  in  their  several 
counties.  Bacon  led  his  troops  against  the  savages.    Meantime, 


1676.  THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  465 

Sir  William  Berkeley  collected  iu  Accomack  a  crowd  of  base 
and  cowardly  followers,  allured  by  the  passion  for  plundering ; 
promising  freedom  to  the  servants  and  slaves  of  the  insurgents, 
if  they  would  rally  under  his  banner.  The  English  vessels  in 
the  harbors  joined  his  side.  With  a  fleet  of  five  ships  and  ten 
sloops,  attended  by  a  rabble  of  hirelings,  the  cavalier  sailed 
for  Jamestown,  where  he  landed  without  opposition.  Enter- 
ing the  town,  he  fell  on  his  knees,  returning  thanks  to  God 
for  his  safe  arrival ;  and  again  proclaimed  Bacon  and  his  party 
traitors  and  rebels. 

The  cry  resounded  through  the  forests  for  "  the  country- 
men "  to  come  down.  "  Speed,"  it  was  said,  '^  or  we  shall 
all  be  made  slaves — man,  woman,  and  child."  "  Your  sword," 
said  Drummond  to  Lawrence,  "  is  your  commission,  and  mine 
too ;  the  sword  must  end  it ; "  and  both  prepared  for  resist- 
ance. 

Having  returned  from  a  successful  expedition  and  dis- 
banded his  troops.  Bacon  had  retained  but  a  small  body  of 
men  when  the  tidings  of  the  armed  occupation  of  Jamestown 
surprised  him  in  his  retirement.  His  eloquence  inspired  his 
few  followers  with  courage.  "  With  marvellous  celerity  "  they 
hastened  toward  their  enemy.  On  the  way  they  secured  as 
hostages  the  wives  of  royalists  who  were  with  Berkeley. 
They  soon  appeared  under  arms  before  the  town,  sounded  de- 
fiance, and,  under  the  mild  light  of  a  September  moon,  threw 
up  a  rude  intrenchment.  Bacon,  who  valued  his  friends  too 
much  to  risk  the  life  of  one  of  them  without  necessity,  could 
with  difficulty  hold  them  back  from  storming  the  place. 

The  followers  of  Berkeley  were  too  wavering  to  succeed 
in  a  sally,  and  made  excuses  to  desert.  No  considerable  serv- 
ice was  done,  except  by  the  seamen.  What  availed  the  pas- 
sionate fury  and  desperate  courage  of  a  brave,  irascible  old 
man?  Unable  to  hold  his  position,  he  retreated  from  the 
town  by  night. 

On  the  morning  after  the  retreat.  Bacon  entered  the  little 
capital  of  Virginia.  There  lay  the  ashes  of  Gosnold ;  there 
the  gallant  Smith  had  told  the  tale  of  his  adventures ;  there 
Pocahontas  had  sported  in  the  simplicity  of  innocence.  For 
nearly  seventy  years  it  had  been  the  abode  of  Anglo-Saxons, 


i,QQ    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  xi. 

As  it  was  well  fortified,  a  council  of  war  resolved  to  bum 
the  only  town  in  Virginia,  that  it  might  not  afford  shelter  for 
an  enemy.  When  the  shades  of  night  descended,  and  the  rec- 
ords of  the  colony  had  been  removed  by  Drummond  to  a 
place  of  safety,  the  village  was  set  on  fire.  Two  of  the  best 
houses  belonged  to  Lawrence  and  Drummond ;  each  of  them, 
with  his  own  hand,  kindled  the  fiames  that  were  to  lay  his 
dwelling  in  ashes.  The  little  church,  the  oldest  in  the  domin- 
ion, the  newly  erected  statehouse,  were  consumed.  The  ruins 
of  the  tower  of  the  church,  and  memorials  in  the  adjacent 
graveyard,  still  mark  the  peninsula  of  Jamestown. 

The  burning  of  the  town  appears  to  have  been  unwar- 
ranted ;  it  may  have  been  the  rash  counsel  of  despair.  It  is 
chiefly  this  deed  that  suspends  judgment  on  the  character  of 
the  insurrection.  Leaving  the  smoking  ruins,  Bacon  hastened 
to  meet  the  royalists  from  the  Rappahannock.  'No  engage- 
ment ensued ;  the  troops  in  a  body  joined  the  patriot  party  ; 
and  Brent,  their  leader,  was  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  insur- 
gents. Even  the  inhabitants  of  Gloucester  gave  pledges  of 
adhesion.  Nothing  remained  but  to  cross  the  bay,  and  revo- 
lutionize the  eastern  shore. 

During  the  siege  of  Jamestown,  the  insurgent  army  had 
been  exposed  to  the  dews  and  night  air  of  the  lowlands. 
Bacon  suddenly  sickened,  struggled  vainly  with  a  most  malig- 
nant disease,  and  on  the  first  day  of  October  died.  Seldom 
has  a  political  leader  been  more  honored  by  his  friends. 
"  Who  is  there  now,"  said  they,  "  to  plead  our  cause  ?  Ilis 
eloquence  could  animate  the  coldest  hearts ;  his  pen  and  sword 
alike  compelled  the  admiration  of  his  foes,  and  it  was  but 
their  own  guilt  that  styled  him  a  criminal.  His  name  must 
bleed  for  a  season;  but  when  time  shall  bring  to  Virginia 
truth  crowned  with  freedom  and  safe  against  danger,  poster- 
ity shall  sound  his  praises." 

The  death  of  Bacon  left  his  party  without  a  head.  A 
series  of  petty  insurrections  followed ;  but  in  Robert  Bever- 
ley the  royalists  found  an  agent  superior  to  any  of  the  remain- 
ing insurgents.  The  ships  in  the  river,  including  one  which  had 
been  recovered  from  the  party  of  Bacon,  were  at  his  disposal, 
and  a  warfare  in  detail  restored  the  supremacy  of  the  govern  on 


1676-1677.     THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  467 

Thomas  Hansford,  a  native  Yirginian,  was  the  first  pap 
tisan  leader  whom  Beverley  surprised.  Young,  gay,  and  gal^ 
lant,  impatient  of  restraint,  keenly  sensitive  to  honor,  ^'a 
valiant  stout  man  and  a  most  resolved  rebel,"  he  disdained  to 
shrink  from  the  malice  of  destiny,  and  Berkeley  condemned 
him  to  be  hanged.  Neither  at  his  trial  nor  afterward  did  he 
show  any  diminution  of  fortitude.  He  demanded  no  favor, 
but  that  "  he  might  be  shot  like  a  soldier,  and  not  hanged  like 
a  dog."  ■**  You  die,"  it  was  answered,  "  not  as  a  soldier,  but 
as  a  rebel."  During  the  short  respite  after  sentence,  he  re- 
viewed his  life,  and  expressed  penitence  for  every  sin.  What 
was  charged  on  him  as  rebellion,  he  denied  to  have  been  a 
sin.  "  Take  notice,"  said  he,  as  he  came  to  the  gibbet,  "  I  die 
a  loyal  subject  and  a  lover  of  my  country."  That  country 
was  Virginia. 

Having  the  advantage  of  naval  superiority,  a  party  of 
royalists  entered  York  river,  and  surprised  the  troops  that 
were  led  by  Edmund  Cheesman  and  Thomas  Wilford.  The 
latter,  a  younger  son  of  a  royalist  knight,  who  had  fallen  in 
the  wars  for  Charles  I.,  a  truly  brave  man,  and  now  by  his 
industry  a  successful  emigrant,  lost  an  eye  in  the  skirmish. 
"  Were  I  stark  blind,"  said  he,  "  the  governor  would  afford 
me  a  guide  to  the  gallows."  When  Cheesman  was  arraigned 
for  trial,  Berkeley  demanded:  "Why  did  you  engage  in 
Bacon's  designs  ? "  Before  the  prisoner  could  frame  an  an- 
swer, his  young  wife  pleaded  that  he  had  acted  under  her 
influence,  and  falling  on  her  knees  said :  "  My  provocations 
made  my  husband  join  in  the  cause  for  which  Bacon  con- 
tended ;  but  for  me,  he  had  never  done  what  he  has  done ;  let 
me  bear  the  punishment ;  but  let  my  husband  be  pardoned." 
She  spoke  tnith ;  but  the  governor  answered  her  only  with 
insult. 

Offended  pride  is  merciless  ;  it  remembers  a  former  affront 
as  proof  of  weakness,  and  seeks  to  restore  self-esteem  by  a 
flagrant  exercise  of  recovered  power.  No  sentiment  of  clem- 
ency was  tolerated.  From  fear  that  a  jury  would  bring  in 
verdicts  of  aquittal,  men  were  hurried  to  death  from  courts- 
martial.  "  You  are  very  welcome,"  exulted  Berkeley,  with  a 
low  bow,  on  meeting  William  Drummond,  as  his  prisoner ;  "  X 


468    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xi. 

am  more  glad  to  see  jou  than  any  man  in  Virginia ;  you  shall 
be  hanged  in  half  an  hour."  The  patriot,  on  the  twentieth 
of  January,  1677,  avowing  the  part  he  had  acted,  was  con- 
demned at  one  o'clock  and  hanged  at  four.  His  children  and 
wife  were  driven  from  their  home,  to  depend  on  the  charity 
of  the  planters.  When  it  was  deemed  safe  to  resort  to  the 
civil  tribunal,  the  judges  proceeded  with  the  virulence  of  ac- 
cusers. A  panic  paralyzed  the  juries.  Of  those  put  on  trial, 
none  escaped  being  convicted  and  sent  to  the  gallows.  In 
defiance  of  remonstrances,  executions  continued  for  ten  days, 
till  twenty-two  had  been  hanged.  Three  others  had  died  of 
cruelty  in  prison  ;  three  more  had  fled  before  trial ;  two  had 
escaped  after  conviction.  "  The  old  fool,"  said  the  kind- 
hearted  Charles  II.,  with  truth,  "  has  taken  away  more  lives 
in  that  naked  country  than  I  for  the  murder  of  my  father." 
And  in  a  public  proclamation  he  censured  the  conduct  of 
Berkeley,  as  contrary  to  his  commands  and  derogatory  to  his 
clemency.  Isor  is  it  certain  when  the  carnage  would  have 
ended,  had  not  the  assembly  in  February  voted  an  address, 
"  that  the  governor  would  spill  no  more  blood."  "  Had  we 
let  him  alone,  he  would  have  hanged  half  the  country,"  said 
the  member  from  ]^orthampton  to  his  colleague  from  Staf- 
ford. Berkeley  was  as  rapacious  as  cruel,  amassing  property 
by  penalties  and  confiscations.  The  king  promptly  superseded 
him  by  a  special  commission  to  a  lieutenant-governor  ;  but  he 
pleaded  his  higher  authority  as  governor,  and  refused  to  give 
way.  "When  the  fair-minded  royal  commissioners  of  inquiry 
visited  him,  he  sought  out  the  hangman  of  the  colony  to  drive 
them  from  his  home  to  their  boat  in  the  river ;  so  that  they 
chose  to  go  on  foot  to  the  landing-place.  Most  peremptory 
orders  arrived  for  his  removal.  Guns  were  fired  and  bon- 
fires kindled  at  his  departure.  Public  opinion  in  England 
censured  his  conduct  with  equal  severity ;  and  the  report  of 
the  commissioners  in  Yirginia  was  fatal  to  his  reputation. 
He  died  soon  after  he  reached  England. 

The  memory  of  those  who  have  been  wronged  is  always 
pursued  by  the  ungenerous.  England,  ambitious  of  absolute 
colonial  supremacy,  could  not  render  justice  to  the  principles 
by  which  Bacon  was  swayed.     No  printing-press  was  allowed 


1677-1682.    THE   GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  469 

in  Yirginia.  To  speak  ill  of  Berkeley  or  his  friends  was  pun- 
ished by  whipping  or  a  fine ;  to*  speak  or  write  or  publish  any- 
thing, in  favor  of  the  rebels  or  the  rebellion,  was  made  a  high 
misdemeanor;  if  thrice  repeated,  was  evidence  of  treason. 
Every  accurate  account  of  the  insurrection  remained  in  manu- 
script till  the  present  century. 

On  this  occasion  English  troops  were  first  introduced  into 
the  English  colonies  in  America.  After  three  years,  they  were 
disbanded,  and  mingled  with  the  people. 

The  results  of  Bacon's  rebellion  were  disastrous  for  Vir- 
ginia. Her  form  of  government  was  defined  by  royal  instruc- 
tions that  had  been  addressed  to  Berkeley.  Assemblies  were 
required  to  be  called  but  once  in  two  years,  and  to  sit  but 
fourteen  days,  unless  for  special  reasons.  "You  shall  take 
care,"  said  the  king,  "  that  the  members  of  assembly  be  elected 
only  by  freeholders."  In  conformity  with  these  instructions, 
all  the  acts  of  Bacon's  assembly,  except  perhaps  one  which 
permitted  the  enslaving  of  Indians  and  which  was  confirmed 
and  renewed,  were  absolutely  repealed,  and  the  former  griev- 
ances immediately  returned.  The  private  levies,  unequal  and 
burdensome,  were  managed  by  men  who  combined  to  defraud  ; 
the  public  revenues  were  often  misapplied ;  each  church  was 
again  subjected  to  a  self-perpetuating  vestry.  Taxes  contin- 
ued to  be  levied  by  the  poll.  The  commissioners  sent  by  the 
king  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  Virginia  allowed  every 
district  to  present  its  afflictions,  but  every  measure  of  reform 
was  made  void,  and  every  aristocratic  feature  that  had  been 
introduced  into  the  constitution  was  perpetuated. 

In  August,  16Y7,  about  two  years  after  Virginia  had  been 
granted  to  Arlington  and  Culpepper,  the  latter  obtained  an 
appointment  as  its  governor  for  life,  and  was  proclaimed 
soon  after  Berkeley's  departure.  The  Ancient  Dominion  was 
changed  into  a  proprietary  government,  and  the  administra- 
tion surrendered,  as  it  were,  to  one  of  the  proprietaries,  who 
at  the  same  time  was  sole  possessor  of  the  neck  between  the 
Rappahannock  and  the  Potomac.  Culpepper  was  disposed  to 
regard  his  oflice  as  a  sinecure,  but  the  king  chid  him  for  re- 
maining in  England  ;  and,  early  in  1680,  he  made  his  appear- 
ance in  his  province.     His  place  and  his  patents  he  valued 


470    BRITISH   AMERICA   FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paetii.;  ch.  xi. 

only  as  property.  Clothed  by  the  royal  clemency  with  power 
to  bury  past  contests,  he  perverted  the  office  of  humanity  into 
a  means  of  enriching  himself  and  increasing  his  authority. 
Yet  Culpepper  was  not  singular  in  his  selfishness.  As  the 
British  merchant  claimed  the  monopoly  of  the  commerce  of 
the  colonies,  as  the  British  manufacturer  valued  them  only  as 
a  market  for  his  goods,  so  British  courtiers  looked  to  patron- 
age in  America  for  profit  to  themselves,  or  provision  for  their 
dependents. 

Having,  in  May,  taken  the  oath  of  office  at  Jamestown  and 
organized  a  council  of  members  friendly  to  prerogative,  the 
wilful  followers  of  Bacon  were  disfranchised.  To  an  assembly 
convened  in  June,  three  acts,  framed  in  England  and  con- 
firmed in  advance  by  the  great  seal,  were  proposed  for  accept- 
ance. The  first  was  of  indemnity  and  oblivion — less  clement 
than  had  been  hoped,  yet  definitive,  and  therefore  welcome. 
The  second  withdrew  from  the  assembly  the  power  of  natural- 
ization, and  declared  it  a  prerogative  of  the  governor.  And 
the  third,  still  more  grievous  to  colonial  liberty,  and  so  hateful 
to  Virginians  that  it  was  carried  only  from  hope  of  pardon  for 
the  rebellion,  authorized  a  perpetual  export  duty  of  two  shil- 
lings a  hogshead  on  tobacco,  and  granted  the  proceeds  to  the 
king  for  the  support  of  government.  The  royal  revenue  thus 
provided  was  ample  and  was  perpetual. 

The  salary  of  the  governor  of  Virginia  had  been  a  thousand 
pounds :  for  Lord  Culpepper  it  was  doubled,  because  he  was 
a  peer.  A  further  grant  was  made  for  house-rent.  Perqui- 
sites of  every  kind  were  sought  for  and  increased,  l^ay,  the 
peer  was  not  an  honest  man.  He  defrauded  the  soldiers  of  a 
part  of  their  wages  by  an  arbitrary  change  in  the  value  of  cur- 
rent coin.  Having  employed  the  summer  profitably,  in  the 
month  of  August  he  sailed  for  England  from  Boston. 

The  low  price  of  tobacco  left  the  planter  without  hope. 
With  little  regard  to  its  own  powers,  it  petitioned  the  king 
to  prohibit  by  proclamation  the  planting  of  tobacco  in  the 
colonies  for  one  year.  The  assembly  had  attempted  by  legis- 
lation to  call  towns  into  being  and  to  cherish  manufactures. 

In  1682,  Culpepper  returned  to  reduce  Virginia  to  quiet, 
and  to  promote  his  own  interests  as  proprietor  of  the  [N^orth- 


1682-1685.    THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  471 

era  Neck.  A  few  victims  on  the  gallows  silenced  discontent. 
The  assembly  was  convened,  and  its  little  remaining  control 
over  the  executive  was  wrested  from  it.  The  council  was  the 
general  court ;  but,  according  to  usage,  appeals  lay  from  it  to 
the  general  assembly.  The  custom  m.enaced  Culpepper  with 
defeat  in  his  attempts  to  appropriate  to  himself  the  cultivated 
plantations  of  the  Northern  Neck.  The  artful  magistrate,  for 
a  private  and  lucrative  purpose,  fomented  a  dispute  between 
the  council  and  the  assembly.  The  burgesses,  in  their  high 
court  of  appeal,  claimed  to  sit  alone,  excluding  the  council 
from  whose  decision  the  appeal  was  made  ;  and  Culpepper, 
having  referred  the  question  to  the  king  for  decision,  in  the 
next  year  announced  that  no  appeals  whatever  should  be  per- 
mitted to  the  assembly,  nor  any  to  the  king  in  council  under 
the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  The  holders  of 
land  who  were  debtors  to  Culpepper  now  lay  at  his  mercy, 
and  were  compelled  eventually  to  negotiate  a  compromise. 

Weary  of  the  irksome  residence  in  a  province  wasted  by 
perverse  legislation,  Culpepper  returned  to  England.  His 
patent  as  governor  for  life  was  rendered  void  by  a  process  of 
law,  but  only  to  recover  a  prerogative  for  the  crown.  The 
council  of  Virginia  reported  the  griefs  and  restlessness  of  the 
country,  and  renewed  the  request  that  the  grant  to  Culpepper 
and  Arlington  might  be  recalled.  The  exhaustion  of  the  prov- 
ince rendered  negotiation  more  easy ;  the  design  agreed  well 
with  the  new  colonial  policy  of  Charles  II.  Arlington  sur- 
rendered his  rights  to  Culpepper;  and  in  July,  1684,  Yir- 
ginia  became  again  a  royal  province. 

Lord  Howard  of  Effingham  was  Culpepper's  successor. 
Like  so  many  before  and  after-  him,  he  solicited  office  in 
America  to  get  money,  and  resorted  to  the  usual  expedient  of 
exorbitant  fees.  In  England  his  avarice  met  with  no  severe 
reprobation. 

The  accession  of  James  II.,  in  1685,  made  but  few  changes 
in  the  political  condition  of  Virginia.  The  suppression  of 
Monmouth's  rebellion  gave  to  it  useful  citizens.  "  Lord  chief 
justice  is  making  his  campaign  in  the  west : "  so  wrote  the  king, 
with  his  own  hand,  in  allusion  to  Jeffries'  circuit  for  punish- 
ing the  insurgents;   "he  has  condemned  several  hundreds, 


4:72    BRITISH  AMERICA   FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xi. 

some  of  whom  are  already  executed,  more  are  to  be,  and  tlie 
others  sent  to  the  plantations."  The  courtiers  round  James 
II.  clutched  at  the  rich  harvest  which  the  rebellion  promised. 
Jeffries  heard  of  the  scramble,  and  thus  interposed :  ^'  I  be- 
seech your  majesty  that  I  may  inform  you  that  each  pris- 
oner will  be  worth  ten  pound,  if  not  fifteen  pound,  apiece ; 
and,  sir,  if  your  majesty  orders  these  as  you  have  already  de- 
signed, persons  that  have  not  suffered  in  the  service  will  run 
away  with  the  booty."  The  convicts  were  in  part  persons 
of  family  and  education,  accustomed  to  elegance  and  ease. 
"  Take  all  care,"  wrote  the  monarch,  under  the  countersign  of 
Sunderland,  to  the  government  in  the  colony,  "  take  all  care 
that  they  continue  to  serve  for  ten  years  at  least,  and  that 
they  be  not  permitted  in  any  manner  to  redeem  themselves, 
by  money  or  otherwise,  until  that  term  be  fully  expired. 
Prepare  a  bill  for  the  assembly  of  our  colony,  with  such 
clauses  as  shall  be  requisite  for  this  purpose."  No  Virginia 
legislature  seconded  such  malice ;  and  in  December,  1689,  the 
exiles  were  pardoned. 

On  another  occasion,  Jeffries  exerted  an  opposite  influence. 
Kidnapping  had  become  common  in  Bristol ;  and  not  felons 
only,  but  young  persons  and  others,  were  hurried  across  the 
Atlantic  and  sold  for  money.  At  Bristol,  the  mayor  and  jus- 
tices would  intimidate  small  rogues  and  pilferers,  who,  under 
the  terror  of  being  hanged,  prayed  for  transportation  as  the 
only  avenue  to  safety,  and  were  then  divided  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  court.  The  trade  was  exceedingly  profitable — far 
more  so  than  the  slave-trade — and  had  been  conducted  for 
years.  By  accident  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Jeffries,  who 
delighted  in  a  fair  opportunity  to  rant.  Finding  that  the  al- 
dermen, justices,  and  the  mayor  himself  were  concerned  in 
this  sort  of  man-stealing,  he  turned  to  the  mayor,  who  was  sit- 
ting on  the  bench,  bravely  arrayed  in  scarlet  and  furs,  gave 
him  every  ill  name  which  scolding  eloquence  could  devise,  and 
made  him  go  down  to  the  criminal's  post  at  the  bar,  to  plead 
for  himself  as  a  common  rogue  would  have  done.  The  prose- 
cutions depended  till  the  revolution,  which  made  an  amnesty ; 
and  the  judicial  kidnappers,  retaining  their  gains,  suffered 
nothing  beyond  disgrace  and  terror. 


1685-1688.     THE  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  VIRGINIA.  473 

Virginia  ceased  for  a  season  to  be  the  favorite  resort  of 
voluntary  emigrants.  The  presence  of  a  frigate  sharpened 
the  zeal  of  the  royal  officers  in  enforcing  the  acts  of  naviga- 
tion. A  new  tax  in  England  on  the  consumption  of  tobacco 
was  injurious  to  the  producer.  Culpepper  and  his  council 
had  arraigned  a  printer  for  publishing  the  laws,  and  ordered 
him  to  print  nothing  till  the  king's  pleasure  should  be  known ; 
and  Effingham  received  the  instruction  to  allow  no  printing- 
press  on  any  pretense  whatever.  The  rule  was  continued 
under  James  II.     The  methods  of  despotism  are  monotonous. 

To  perfect  the  system,  Effingham  established  a  chancery 
court,  in  which  he  himself  was  chancellor.  The  councillors 
might  advise,  but  were  without  a  vote.  An  arbitrary  table  of 
fees  followed  of  course.  This  is  the  period  when  royal  au- 
thority was  at  its  height  in  Yirginia.  The  executive,  the 
council,  the  judges,  the  sheriffs,  the  county  commissioners,  and 
local  magistrates,  were  all  appointed  directly  or  indirectly  by 
the  crown.  Yirginia  had  no  town-meetings,  no  village  de- 
mocracies, no  free  municipal  institutions.  The  custom  of  a 
colonial  assembly  remained,  but  it  was  chosen  under  a  re- 
stricted franchise ;  its  clerk  was  ordered  to  be  appointed  by 
the  governor ;  and  its  power  was  impaired  by  the  permanent 
grant  of  revenue  which  it  could  not  recall.  The  indulgence 
of  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  enfranchisement  of  papists 
were  suspected  in  King  James  as  a  device  to  restore  dominion 
"  to  popery." 

In  1685,  the  first  assembly  convened  after  the  accession  of 
James  II.  questioned  a  part  of  his  negative  power.  Former 
laws  had  been  repealed ;  the  king  negatived  the  repeal,  and 
revived  the  earlier  law.  The  assembly  obstinately  refused  to 
acknowledge  this  exercise  of  prerogative,  and  brought  upon 
themselves  a  censure  of  their  ^'  unnecessary  debates  and  con- 
tests touching  the  negative  voice,"  "the  disaffected  and  un- 
quiet disposition  of  the  members,  and  their  irregular  and  tu- 
multuous proceedings."  In  1686,  they  were  dissolved  by 
royal  proclamation.  James  Collins,  in  1687,  was  imprisoned 
and  loaded  with  irons  for  treasonable  expressions.  The  servile 
council  pledged  to  the  king  their  lives  and  fortunes,  but  the 
feeling  of  personal  independence,  nourished  by  the  manners 

TOL.  I.— 32 


474    BRITISH   AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xi. 

of  rural  life,  could  never  be  repressed.  In  the  assembly  of 
April,  1688,  the  spirit  oft  the  burgesses  was  greater  than  ever, 
and  an  immediate  dissolution  of  the  body  seemed  to  the  coun- 
cil the  only  mode  of  counteracting  their  influence.  But  the 
governor,  in  a  new  country,  without  soldiers  and  without  a 
citadel,  was  compelled  to  practice  moderation.  Tyranny  was 
impossible ;  for  it  had  no  powerful  instruments.  "When  the 
prerogative  was  at  its  height,  it  was  still  too  feeble  to  subdue 
the  colony.     Yirginia  was  always  "  a  land  of  liberty." 

N^or  let  the  first  tendencies  to  union  pass  unnoticed.  In 
the  bay  of  the  Chesapeake,  Smith  had  encountered  warriors 
of  the  Five  IS'ations ;  and  others  had  fearlessly  roamed  to 
the  shores  of  Massachusetts  bay,  and  even  invaded  the  soil 
of  Maine.  In  1667  the  Mohawks  committed  ravages  near 
^Northampton,  on  Connecticut  river;  and  the  general  court 
of  Massachusetts  addressed  them  a  letter :  "  We  never  yet  did 
any  wrong  to  you,  or  any  of  yours,"  such  was  the  language  of 
the  Puritan  diplomatists,  "neither  will  we  take  any  from  you, 
but  will  right  our  people  according  to  justice."  In  1677 
Maryland  invited  Yirginia  to  join  with  itself  and  with  New 
York  in  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Seneca  Indians,  and  in  the 
month  of  August  a  conference  was  held  with  that  tribe  at 
Albany.  In  July,  1684,  the  governor  of  Yirginia  and  of 
'New  York,  and  the  agent  of  Massachusetts,  met  the  sachems 
of  the  Five  IN'ations  at  Albany,  to  strengthen  and  burnish  the 
covenant-chain,  and  plant  the  tree  of  peace,  of  which  the  top 
should  reach  the  sun,  and  the  branches  shelter  the  wide  land. 
The  treaty  extended  from  the  St.  Croix  to  Albemarle.  New 
York  was  the  bond  of  New  England  and  Yirginia.  The 
north  and  the  south  were  united  by  the  acquisition  of  New 
Nethebland. 


1492-1579.  KEW  NETHERLAND.  475 


CHAPTER  XII. 

NEW   NETHERLAND. 

The  spirit  of  the  age  was  present  when  the  foundations 
of  New  York  were  laid.  Every  great  European  event  af- 
fected the  fortunes  of  America.  '  Did  a  state  prosper,  it  sought 
an  increase  of  wealth  by  plantations  in  the  west.  Was  a  sect 
persecuted,  it  escaped  to  the  New  World.  The  Reformation, 
followed  by  collisions  between  English  dissenters  and  the 
Anglican  hierarchy,  colonized  New  England;  the  Reforma- 
tion, emancipating  the  Low  Countries,  led  to  settlements  on 
the  Hudson.  The  Netherlands  divide  with  England  the  glory 
of  having  planted  the  first  colonies  in  the  United  States ;  and 
they  divide  the  glory  of  having  set  the  example  of  public 
freedom.  If  England  gave  our  fathers  the  idea  of  a  popular 
representation,  the  United  Provinces  were  their  model  of  a 
federal  union. 

At  the  discovery  of  America,  the  Netherlands  possessed 
the  municipal  institutions  of  the  Roman  world  and  the  feudal 
liberties  of  the  middle  ages.  The  landed  aristocracy,  the  hier- 
archy, and  the  municipalities  exercised  political  franchises. 
The  municipal  officers,  in  part  appointed  by  the  sovereign, 
in  part  perpetuating  themselves,  had  common  interests  with 
the  industrious  citizens,  from  whom  they  were  selected ;  and 
tlie  nobles,  cherishing  the  feudal  right  of  resisting  arbitrary 
taxation,  joined  the  citizens  in  defending  national  liberty 
against  encroachments.  V. 

The  urgencies  of  war,  the  Reformation,  perhaps  also  the 
arrogance  of  power,  often  tempted  Charles  Y.  to  violate  the 
constitutions  of  the  Netherlands.  Philip  II.,  on  his  accession 
in  1559,  formed  the  purpose  of  subverting  them,  and  found 


476    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paetu.;  oh.  xii. 

coadjutors  in  the  prelates.  By  increasing  the  number  of 
bishops,  who,  in  right  of  their  office,  had  a  voice  in  the  states, 
he,  in  1559,  destroyed  the  balance  of  the  constitution. 

Thus  the  power  of  the  sovereign  sought  to  crush  inherited 
privileges.  Patriotism  aud  hope  animated  the  provinces ;  des- 
potism and  bigotry  were  on  the  side  of  Philip. 

The  contest  in  the  Low  Countries  was  one  of  the  most 
memorable  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  All  classes 
were  roused  to  opposition.  The  nobles  framed  a  solemn 
petition ;  the  common  people  broke  in  pieces  the  images  that 
filled  the  churches.  Despotism  then  seized  possession  of  the 
courts,  and  invested  a  commission  with  absolute  power  over 
life  and  property ;  to  overawe  the  burghers,  the  citadels  were 
filled  with  mercenary  soldiers ;  to  strike  terror  into  the  no- 
bility, Egmont  and  Horn  were  executed.  Men  fled;  but 
whither?  The  village,  the  city,  the  court,  the  camp,  were 
held  by  the  tyrant;  the  fugitive  had  no  asylum  but  the 
ocean. 

The  establishment  of  subservient  courts  was  followed  by 
arbitrary  taxation.  But  feudal  liberty  forbade  taxation  except 
by  consent ;  and  the  levying  of  the  tenth  penny  excited  more 
commotion  than  the  tribunal  of  blood.  Merchant  and  land- 
holder, citizen  and  peasant.  Catholic  and  Protestant,  were  ripe 
for  insurrection ;  and  even  with  foreign  troops  Alba  vainly 
attempted  to  enforce  taxation  without  representation.  Just 
then,  on  the  first  of  April,  1572,  a  party  of  the  fugitive 
"  beggars  "  succeeded  in  gaining  the  harbor  of  Briel,  the  key 
of  the  North  Provinces ;  and,  in  July  of  the  same  year,  the 
states  of  Holland,  creating  the  Prince  of  Orange  their  stad- 
holder,  prepared  to  levy  money  and  troops.  In  1575  Zealand 
joined  with  Holland  in  demanding  for  freedom  some  better 
safeguard  than  the  word  of  Philip  II.,  and  in  November  of 
the  following  year  nearly  all  the  provinces  united  to  drivel 
foreign  troops  from  their  soil.  "  The  spirit  that  animates 
them,"  said  Sidney  to  Queen  Elizabeth^  "is  the  spirit  of  God, 
and  is  invincible." 

The  particular  union  of  five  northern  provinces  at  Utrecht, 
in  January,  1579,  perfected  the  insurrection  by  forming  the 
basis  of  a  sovereignty ;  and,  when  their  ablest  chiefs  were  putj 


1579-1594.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  477 

under  the  ban,  and  a  price  offered  for  the  assassination  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  the  deputies  in  the  assembly  at  the  Hague, 
on  the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  1581,  making  few  changes  in 
their  ancient  laws,  declared  their  independence  by  abjuring 
their  king.  "  The  prince,"  said  they,  in  their  manifesto,  "  is 
made  for  the  subjects,  without  whom  there  would  be  no 
prince ;  and  if,  instead  of  protecting  them,  he  seeks  to  take 
from  them  their  old  freedom  and  use  them  as  slaves,  he  must 
be  holden  not  a  prince,  but  a  tyrant,  and  may  justly  be  deposed 
by  the  authority  of  the  state."  A  rude  structure  of  a  com- 
monwealth was  the  unpremeditated  result  of  the  revolution. 

The  republic  of  the  United  Netherlands  was  by  its  origin 
and  its  nature  commercial.  The  device  on  an  early  Dutch 
coin  was  a  ship  laboring  on  the  billows  without  oar  or  sails* 
The  rendezvous  of  its  martyrs  had  been  the  sea ;  the  muster 
of  its  patriot  emigrants  had  been  on  shipboard ;  and  they  had 
hunted  their  enemy,  as  the  whale-ships  pursue  their  game,  in 
every  corner  of  the  ocean.  The  two  leading  members  of  the 
confederacy,  from  their  situation,  could  seek  subsistence  only 
on  the  water.  Holland  is  but  a  peninsula,  intersected  by 
navigable  rivers;  protruding  itself  into  the  sea;  crowded 
with  a  dense  population  on  a  soil  saved  from  the  deep  by 
embankments,  and  kept  dry  only  with  pumps  driven  by 
windmills.     Its  houses  were  rather  in  the  water  than  on  land. 

And  Zealand  is  composed  of  islands.  Its  inhabitants  were 
nearly  all  fishermen ;  its  villages  were  as  nests  of  sea-fowl.  In 
both  provinces  every  house  was  by  nature  a  nui-sery  of  sailors ; 
the  sport  of  children  was  among  the  breakers ;  their  boyish 
pastimes  in  boats  ;  and,  if  their  first  excursions  were  but  voy- 
ages to  some  neighboring  port,  they  soon  braved  the  dangers 
of  every  sea.  The  states  advanced  to  sudden  opulence ;  before 
the  insurrection,  they  could  with  difficulty  keep  their  embank- 
ments in  repair ;  and  now  they  were  able  to  support  large  fleets 
and  armies.  Their  commerce  gathered  into  their  harbors  the 
fruits  of  the  wide  world.  Producing  almost  no  grain  of  any 
kind,  Holland  had  the  best-supplied  granary  of  Europe ;  with- 
out fields  of  flax,  it  swarmed  with  weavers  of  linen ;  destitute 
of  flocks,  it  became  the  centre  of  all  woollen  manufactures; 
and  provinces  which  had  not  a  forest  built  more  ships  than  all 


478    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    pabt  n. ;  oh.  xu. 

Europe  besides.  They  connected  hemispheres.  Their  enter- 
prising mariners  displayed  the  flag  of  the  republic  from  South- 
ern Africa  to  the  arctic  circle.  The  ships  of  the  Dutch,  said 
Ealeigh,  outnumber  those  of  England  and  ten  other  kingdoms. 
To  the  Italian  cardinal  the  number  seemed  infinite.  Amster- 
dam was  the  seat  of  the  commerce  of  Europe.  The  sea  not 
only  bathed  its  walls,  but  flowed  through  its  streets ;  and  its 
merchantmen  lay  so  crowded  together  that  the  beholder  from 
the  ramparts  could  not  look  through  the  thick  forests  of  masts 
and  yards.  War  for  liberty  became  unexpectedly  a  well-spring 
of  opulence ;  Holland  plundered  the  commerce  of  Spain  by 
its  maritime  force,  and  supplanted  its  rivals  in  the  gainful 
traffic  with  the  Indies.  Lisbon  and  Antwerp  were  despoiled  ; 
Amsterdam,  the  depot  of  the  merchandise  of  Europe  and  of 
the  east,  was  become  beyond  dispute  the  first  commercial  city 
of  the  world ;  the  Tyre  of  modern  times ;  the  Venice  of  the 
north ;  the  queen  of  all  the  seas. 

In  1581,  the  year  after  Portugal  had  been  forcibly  annexed 
to  Spain  and  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  Asia  were  become 
for  a  season  Spanish  provinces,  the  epoch  of  the  independence 
of  the  I^Tetherlands,  Thomas  Buts,  an  Englishman  who  had 
five  times  crossed  the  Atlantic,  offered  to  the  states  to  conduct 
four  ships-of-war  to  America.  The  adventure  was  declined  by 
the  government ;  but  no  obstacles  were  offered  to  private  en- 
terprise. Ten  years  afterward,  William  Usselinx,  who  had  lived 
some  years  in  Castile,  Portugal,  and  the  Azores,  proposed  a 
West  India  company ;  but  the  dangers  of  the  undertaking  were 
still  too  appalling. 

In  1594  the  port  of  Lisbon  was  closed  by  the  king  of  Spain 
against  the  Low  Countries.  Their  carrying  trade  in  Indian 
goods  was  lost,  unless  their  ships  could  penetrate  to  the  seas 
of  Asia.  A  company  of  merchants,  believing  that  the  coast  of 
Siberia  fell  away  to  the  southeast,  hoped  to  shorten  the  voyage 
at  least  eight  thousand  miles  by  using  a  northeastern  route.  A 
double  expedition  was  sent  forth  on  discovery ;  two  fly-boats 
vainly  tried  to  pass  through  the  Straits  of  Yeigatz,  while,  in  a 
large  ship,  William  Barentsen,  whom  Grotius  honored  as  the 
peer  of  Columbus,  coasted  Kova  Zembla  to  the  seventy-seventh 
degree,  without  finding  a  passage. 


1595-160r.  NEW   NETHERLAND.  479 

Netherlanders  in  the  service  of  Portugal  had  visited  India, 
Malacca,  China,  and  even  Japan.  Of  these,  Cornelius  Hout- 
man,  in  April,  1595,  sailed  for  India  by  way  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  before  his  return  circumnavigated  Java.  In 
the  same  year,  Jacob  van  Heemskerk,  the  great  mariner  and 
naval  hero,  aided  by  Barentsen,  renewed  the  search  on  the 
northeast,  but  attempted  in  vain  to  pass  to  the  south  of  Nova 
Zembla.  The  republic,  disheartened  by  the  repeated  failure, 
refused  to  fit  out  another  expedition ;  but  the  city  of  Amster- 
dam, in  1596,  dispatched  two  ships  under  Heemskerk  and 
Barentsen  to  look  for  the  open  sea,  which,  it  had  been  said, 
was  to  be  found  to  the  north  of  all  known  land.  Braver  men 
never  battled  with  arctic  dangers ;  they  discovered  the  jagged 
cliffs  of  Spitzbergen,  and  came  within  ten  degrees  of  the  pole. 
Then  Barentsen  sought  to  go  around  Nova  Zembla,  and,  when 
his  ship  was  hopelessly  enveloped  by  ice,  had  the  courage  to 
encamp  his  crew  on  the  desolate  northern  shore  of  the  island, 
and  cheer  them  during  a  winter  rendered  horrible  by  famine, 
cold,  and  the  fierce  attacks  of  huge  white  bears,  whom  hunger 
had  maddened.  When  spring  came,  the  gallant  company, 
traversing  more  than  sixteen  hundred  miles  in  two  open  boats, 
were  tossed  for  three  months  by  storms  and  among  icebergs, 
before  they  could  reach  the  shelter  of  the  White  sea.  Barent- 
sen sunk  under  his  trials,  but  was  engaged  in  poring  over  a  sea- 
chart  as  he  died.  The  expeditions  of  the  Dutch  were  without 
a.  parallel  for  daring. 

It  was  not  till  1597  that  voyages  were  undertaken  from 
Holland  to  America.  In  that  year,  Bikker  of  Amsterdam 
and  Leyen  of  Enkhuisen  each  formed  a  company  to  traffic 
with  the  West  Indies.  The  commerce  was  continued  with 
success ;  but  Asia  had  greater  attractions.  In  1598  two-and- 
twenty  ships  sailed  from  Dutch  harbors  for  the  Indian  seas,  in 
part  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  part  through  the  Straits 
of  Magellan.  When,  in  1600,  after  years  of  discussion,  a  plan 
for  a  West  India  company  was  reduced  to  writing,  and  com- 
municated to  the  states-general,  it  was  not  adopted,  though  its 
principle  was  approved. 

But  the  zeal  of  merchants  and  of  statesmen  was  concentred 
on  the  east,  where  jealousy  of  the  Portuguese  inclined  the 


4:80    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO  1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xii. 

native  princes  and  peoples  to  welcome  the  Dutch  as  alUes 
and  protectors.  In  March,  1602,  by  the  prevailing  influence 
of  Olden  Bameveldt,  the  advocate  of  Holland,  the  Dutch 
East  India  company  was  chartered,  with  the  exclusive 
right  to  commerce  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  on 
the  one  side,  and  beyond  the  Straits  of  Magellan  on  the 
other.  The  states,  unwilling  to  involve  themselves  in  the 
chances  of  war,  granted  all  powers  requisite  for  conquests, 
colonization,  and  government.  In  the  age  of  feudalism, 
privileged  bodies  formed  the  balance  of  the  commercial  and 
manufacturing  interests  against  the  aristocracy  of  the  sword, 
and  suited  the  genius  of  the  republic.  The  Dutch  East  In- 
dia company  is  the  first  in  the  series  of  great  European  trad- 
ing corporations,  and  became  the  model  for  those  of  France 
and  England. 

As  years  rolled  away,  the  progress  of  English  commerce 
in  the  west  awakened  the  attention  of  the  ^Netherlands.  Eng- 
land and  Holland  had  been  allies  in  the  contest  against  Spain ; 
had  both  spread  their  sails  on  the  Indian  seas ;  had  both  be- 
come competitors  for  possessions  in  America.  In  the  same 
year  in  which  Smith  embarked  for  Virginia,  vast  designs  were 
ripening  among  the  Dutch  ;  and  Grotius,  himself  of  the  com- 
mission to  which  they  were  referred,  acquaints  us  with  the 
opinions  of  his  countrymen.  The  United  Provinces,  it  was 
said,  abounded  in  mariners  and  in  unemployed  capital :  not  the 
plunder  of  Spanish  commerce,  not  India  itself,  America  alone, 
so  rich  in  herbs  of  healing  virtues,  in  forests,  and  in  precious 
ores,  could  exhaust  their  enterprise.  Their  merchants  had 
perused  every  work  on  the  western  world,  had  gleaned  intel- 
Kgence  from  the  narratives  of  sailors ;  and  now  they  planned 
a  privileged  company,  which  should  count  the  states-general 
among  its  stockholders,  and  possess  exclusively  the  liberty  of 
approaching  America  from  ^Newfoundland  to  the  Straits  of 
Magellan,  and  Africa  from  the  tropics  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  Tlie  Spaniards  are  feeblest,  it  was  confidently  urged, 
where  they  are  believed  to  be  strongest ;  there  would  be  no 
war  but  on  the  water,  the  home  of  the  Batavians.  It  would, 
moreover,  be  glorious  to  bear  Christianity  to  the  heathen,  and 
rescue  them  from  their  oppressors.    Principalities  might  easily 


1607-1609.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  481 

be  won  from  the  Spaniards,  whose  scattered  citadels  protected 
but  a  narrow  zone. 

To  the  eagerness  of  enterprise,  it  was  replied  that  war  liad 
its  uncertain  events,  the  sea  its  treacheries ;  the  Spaniards 
would  learn  naval  warfare  by  exercise ;  and  the  little  fleets  of 
the  provinces  could  hardly  blockade  an  ocean  or  battle  for  a 
continent ;  the  costs  of  defence  would  exceed  the  public  re- 
sources ;  home  would  be  lost  in  the  search  for  a  foreign  world, 
of  which  the  air  breathed  pestilence,  the  natives  were  cannibals, 
the  unoccupied  regions  were  hopelessly  wild.  The  party  that 
desired  peace  with  Spain,  and  counted  Grotius  and  Olden 
Barneveldt  among  its  leaders,  for  a  long  time  succeeded  in 
defeating  every  effort  at  Batavian  settlements  in  the  west. 

While  the  negotiations  with  Spain  postponed  the  forma- 
tion of  a  West  India  company,  the  Dutch  found  their  way  to 
the  United  States  through  another  channel. 

In  1607  a  company  of  London  merchants,  excited  by  the 
immense  profits  of  voyages  to  the  east,  contributed  the  means 
for  a  new  attempt  to  discover  the  near  passage  to  Asia ;  and 
Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  was  the  chosen 
leader  of  the  expedition.  With  his  only  son  for  his  compan- 
ion, he  coasted  the  shores  of  Greenland,  and  hesitated  whether 
to  attempt  the  circumnavigation  of  that  country  or  the  pas- 
sage across  the  north.  He  came  nearer  the  pole  than  any 
earlier  navigator ;  but,  after  he  had  renewed  the  discovery  of 
Spitzbergen,  vast  masses  of  ice  compelled  his  return. 

The  next  year  beheld  Hudson  once  more  on  a  voyage,  to 
ascertain  if  the  seas  which  divide  Spitzbergen  from  Nova 
Zembla  open  a  path  to  China. 

The  failure  of  two  expeditions  daunted  Hudson's  employ- 
ers ;  they  could  not  daunt  the  great  navigator.  The  discovery 
of  the  passage  was  the  desire  of  his  life ;  and,  repairing  to 
Holland,  he  offered  his  services  to  the  Dutch  East  India  com- 
pany. The  Zealanders,  disheartened  by  former  ill-success, 
made  objections ;  but  they  were  overruled  by  the  directors  for 
Amsterdam ;  and  on  the  fourth  day  of  April,  1609,  five  days 
before  the  truce  with  Spain,  the  Half  Moon,  a  yacht  of 
about  eighty  tons'  burden,  commanded  by  Hudson  and  man- 
ned by  a  mixed  crew  of  Netherlanders  and  Englishmen,  his 


482    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     pahtii.;  ch.  xii. 

son  being  of  the  number,  set  sail  for  China  by  way  of  the 
north-east.  On  the  fifth  day  of  May  he  had  attained  the 
height  of  the  north  cape  of  Norway ;  but  fogs  and  fields  of 
ice  near  I^ova  Zembla  closed  against  him  the  straits  of  Yei- 
gatz.  Remembering  the  late  accounts  from  Yirginia,  Hudson, 
with  prompt  decision,  turned  to  the  west,  to  look  for  some 
opening  north  of  the  Chesapeake.  On  the  thirtieth  of  May 
he  took  in  water  at  the  Faroe  Isles,  and  in  June  was  on  the 
track  of  Frobisher.  Early  in  July,  with  foremast  carried 
away  and  canvas  rent  in  a  gale,  he  found  himself  among 
fishermen  from  France  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  On 
the  eighteenth  he  entered  a  very  good  harbor  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  mended  his  sails,  and  refitted  his  ship  with  a  fore- 
mast from  the  woods.  On  the  fourth  of  August,  a  boat  was 
sent  on  shore  at  the  headland  which  Gosnold  seven  years  be- 
fore had  called  Cape  Cod,  and  which  was  now  named  New 
Holland;  and  on  the  eighteenth  the  Half  Moon  rode  at 
sea  off  the  Chesapeake  bay,  which  was  known  to  be  the  en- 
trance to  the  river  of  King  James  in  Yirginia.  Here  Hudson 
changed  his  course.  On  the  twenty-eighth  he  entered  the 
great  bay,  now  known  as  Delaware,  and  gave  one  day  to  ita 
rivers,  its  currents  and  soundings,  and  the  aspect  of  the  coun^ 
try.  Then,  sailing  to  the  north  along  the  low  sandy  coast  that 
appeared  like  broken  islands  in  the  surf,  on  the  second  of  Sep- 
tember he  was  attracted  by  the  "  pleasant  sight  of  the  high 
hills  "  of  Navesink.  On  the  following  day,  as  he  approached 
the  "  bold "  land,  three  separate  rivers  seemed  to  be  in  sight. 
He  stood  toward  the  northernmost,  which  was  probably  Rock- 
away  Inlet ;  but,  finding  only  ten  feet  of  water  on  its  bar,  he 
cast  about  to  the  southward,  and  almost  at  the  time  when 
Champlain  was  invading  New  York  from  the  north,  he 
sounded  his  way  to  an  anchorage  within  Sandy  Hook. 

On  the  fourth,  the  ship  went  further  up  the  Horse  Shoe 
to  a  very  good  harbor  near  the  New  Jersey  shore ;  and  that 
same  day  the  people  of  the  country  came  on  board  to  trafiie 
for  knives  and  beads.  On  the  fifth,  a  landing  was  made  from 
the  Half  Moon.  When  Hudson  stepped  on  shore,  the  na- 
tives stood  round  and  sang  in  their  fashion.  Men,  women, 
and  children  were  feather-mantled,  or  clad  in  loose  furs.    Their 


1609.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  483 

food  was  Indian  corn,  which,  when  roasted,  was  pronounced 
to  be  excellent.  They  always  carried  with  them  maize  and 
tobacco.  Some  had  pipes  of  red  copper,  with  earthen  bowls, 
and  wore  copper  ornaments  round  their  necks.  Their  boats 
were  made  each  of  a  single  hollowed  tree.  Their  weapons 
were  bows  and  arrows,  pointed  with  sharp  stones.  They  slept 
abroad  on  mats  of  bulrushes  or  on  the  leaves  of  trees.  They 
were  friendly,  but  thievish,  and  crafty  in  carrying  away  what 
they  fancied.  The  woods,  it  was  specially  noticed,  abounded 
in  "  goodly  oakes,"  and  the  new  comers  never  ceased  to  admire 
the  great  girth  of  the  trees. 

On  the  sixth,  John  Colman  and  four  others,  in  a  boat, 
sounded  the  Narrows,  and  passed  through  Kill  van  Kull  to 
^Newark  bay.  The  air  was  very  sweet,  and  the  land  as  pleas- 
ant with  grass  and  flowers  and  trees  as  they  had  ever  seen ; 
but,  on  the  return,  the  boat  was  attacked  by  two  canoes,  and 
Colman  killed  by  an  arrow. 

On  Wednesday,  the  ninth,  Hudson  moved  cautiously  from 
the  lower  bay  into  the  Narrows ;  and  on  the  eleventh,  by  aid 
of  a  very  light  wind,  he  went  into  the  great  river  of  the  north, 
and  rode  all  night  in  a  harl)or,  which  was  safe  against  every 
wind. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twelfth,  the  natives,  in  eight-and- 
twenty  canoes,  crowded  about  him,  bringing  beans  and  very 
good  oysters.  The  day  w^as  fair  and  warm,  though  the  light 
w^ind  was  from  the  north ;  and  as  Hudson,  under  ithe  brightest 
autumnal  sun,  gazed  around,  having  left  behind  him  the  Nar- 
rows opening  to  the  ocean,  before  him  the  noble  stream  flowing 
from  above  Weehawken  with  a  broad,  deep  channel  between 
forest-crowned  palisades  and  the  gently  swelling  banks  of 
Manhattan,  he  made  a  record  that  "  it  was  as  fair  a  land  as 
can  be  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man."  That  night  he  anchored 
just  above  Manhattan ville.  The  flood-tide  of  the  next  morn- 
ing and  of  evening  brought  him  near  Yonkers.  On  the  four- 
teenth, a  strong  south-east  wind  wafted  him  rapidly  into  the 
Highlands. 

At  daybreak,  on  the  fifteenth,  mists  hung  over  the  land- 
scape; but,  as  they  rose,  the  sun  revealed  the  neighborhood 
of  West  Point.     With  a  south  wind  the  Half  Moon  soon 


4:84    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  oh.  xii. 

emerged  from  the  mountains  that  rise  near  the  water's  edge  ; 
sweeping  upward,  it  passed  the  elbow  at  Hyde  Park,  and  at 
night  anchored  a  little  below  Red  Hook,  within  the  shadow 
of  the  majestic  Catskill  range,  which  it  was  noticed  stands  at 
a  distance  from  the  river. 

Trafficking  with  the  natives,  who  were  "very  loving," 
taking  in  fresh  water,  grounding  at  low  tide  on  a  shoal,  the 
Netherlanders,  on  the  evening  of  the  seventeenth,  reached  no 
higher  than  the  latitude  of  about  forty-two  degrees  eighteen 
minutes,  just  above  the  present  city  of  Hudson.  The  next 
day  Hudson  went  on  shore  in  one  of  the  boats  of  the  natives 
with  an  aged  chief  of  a  small  tribe  of  the  River  Indians.  He 
was  taken  to  a  house  well  constructed  of  oak  bark,  circular  in 
shape,  and  arched  in  the  roof,  the  granary  of  the  beans  and 
maize  of  the  last  year's  harvest;  while  outside  enough  of 
them  lay  drying  to  load  three  ships.  Two  mats  were  spread 
out  as  seats  for  the  strangers ;  food  was  immediately  served  in 
neat  red  wooden  bowls ;  men,  who  were  sent  at  once  with 
bows  and  arrows  for  game,  soon  returned  with  pigeons ;  a  fat 
dog  was  killed ;  and  haste  made  to  prepare  a  feast.  When 
Hudson  refused  to  wait,  they  supposed  him  to  be  afraid  of 
their  weapons ;  and,  taking  arrows,  they  broke  them  in  pieces 
and  threw  them  into  the  fire.  The  country  was  pleasant  and 
fruitful,  bearing  wild  grapes.  "  Of  all  lands  on  which  I  ever 
set  my  foot,"  says  Hudson,  "  this  is  the  best  for  tillage."  The 
River  Indians,  for  more  than  a  century,  preserved  the  mem- 
ory of  his  visit. 

The  Half  Moon,  on  the  nineteenth,  drew  near  the  land- 
ing of  Kinderhook,  where  the  Indians  brought  on  board  skins 
of  beaver  and  otter.  Hudson  ventured  no  higher  with  the 
yacht ;  an  exploring  boat  ascended  a  little  above  Albany  to 
where  the  river  was  but  seven  feet  deep,  and  the  soundings 
grew  uncertain. 

So,  on  the  twenty-third,  Hudson  turned  his  prow  toward 
Holland,  leaving  the  friendly  tribes  persuaded  that  the  Dutch 
would  revisit  them  the  next  year.  As  he  went  down  the 
river,  imagination  peopled  the  region  with  towns.  A  party 
which,  somewhere  in  Ulster  county,  went  to  walk  on  the  west 
bank,  found  an  excellent  soil,  with  large  trees  of  oak  and 


1609.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  486 

walnut  and  chestnut.  The  land  near  IN^ewburg  seemed  a  very 
pleasant  site  for  a  city.  On  the  first  of  October  Hudson 
passed  below  the  mountains.  On  the  fourth,  not  without 
more  than  one  conflict  with  the  savages,  he  sailed  out  of  ''  the 
great  mouth  of  the  great  river  "  which  bears  his  name ; 
and,  about  the  season  of  the  return  of  John  Smith  from  Vir- 
ginia to  England,  he  steered  for  Europe,  leaving  to  its  solitude 
the  beautiful  land  which  he  admired  beyond  any  country  in 
the  world. 

Sombre  forests  shed  a  melancholy  grandeur  over  the  use- 
less magnificence  of  nature,  and  hid  in  their  deep  shades  the 
rich  soil  which  no  sun  had  ever  warmed.  'No  axe  had  levelled 
the  giant  progeny  of  the  crowded  groves,  in  which  the  fantas- 
tic forms  of  limbs,  withered  or  riven  by  lightning,  contrasted 
strangely  with  the  verdure  of  a  younger  growth  of  branches. 
The  wanton  grape-vine,  fastening  its  leafy  coils  to  the  top  of  the 
tallest  forest  tree,  swung  with  every  breeze,  like  the  loosened 
shrouds  of  a  ship.  Trees  might  everywhere  be  seen  breaking 
from  their  root  in  the  marshy  soil,  and  threatening  to  fall  with 
the  first  rude  gust ;  while  the  ground  was  strown  with  the  ruins 
of  former  woods,  over  which  a  profusion  of  wild  flowers  wasted 
their  freshness  in  mockery  of  the  gloom.  Reptiles  sported  in 
the  stagnant  pools,  or  crawled  unharmed  over  piles  of  mould- 
ering logs.  The  spotted  deer  crouched  among  the  thickets  ; 
and  there  were  none  but  wild  animals  to  crop  the  uncut 
herbage  of  the  prairies.  Silence  reigned,  broken  by  the 
flight  of  land-birds  or  the  flapping  of  water-fowl,  and  ren- 
dered more  dismal  by  the  howl  of  beasts  of  prey.  The 
streams,  not  yet  limited  to  a  channel,  spread  over  sand-bars, 
tufted  with  copses  of  willow,  or  flowed  through  wastes  of 
reeds ;  or  slowly  but  surely  undermined  the  groups  of  syca- 
mores that  grew  by  their  side.  The  smaller  brooks  spread  out 
into  sedgy  swamps,  that  were  overhung  by  clouds  of  mosqui- 
toes ;  masses  of  decaying  vegetation  fed  the  exhalations  with 
the  seeds  of  pestilence,  and  made  the  balmy  air  of  the  sum- 
mer's evening  as  deadly  as  it  seemed  grateful. 

And  man,  the  occupant  of  the  soil,  untamed  as  the  sav- 
age scene,  was  in  harmony  with  the  rude  nature  by  which  he 
was  surrounded ;  a  vagrant  over  the  continent,  in  constant 


4:86    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO    1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xii. 

warfare  with  his  fellow  man ;  the  bark  of  the  birch  his  canoe ; 
strings  of  shells  his  ornaments,  his  record,  and  his  coin  ;  the 
roots  of  uncultivated  plants  among  his  resources  for  food ;  his 
knowledge  in  architecture  surpassed  both  in  strength  and  du- 
rability by  the  skill  of  the  beaver ;  bended  saplings  the  beams 
of  his  house ;  the  branches  and  rind  of  trees  its  roof ;  drifts  of 
leaves  his  couch ;  mats  of  bulrushes  his  protection  against  the 
winter's  cold  ;  his  religion  the  adoration  of  nature  ;  his  morals 
the  promptings  of  undisciplined  instinct ;  disputing  with  the 
wolves  and  bears  the  lordship  of  the  soil,  and  dividing  with 
the  squirrel  the  wild  fruits  with  which  the  universal  woodlands 
abounded. 

The  history  of  a  country  is  modified  by  its  climate,  and,  in 
many  of  its  features,  determined  by  its  geographical  situation. 
The  region  which  Hudson  had  discovered  possesses  near  the 
sea  an  unrivalled  harbor ;  a  river  that  admits  the  tide  far  into 
the  interior ;  on  the  north,  a  chain  of  great  lakes  which  have 
their  springs  in  the  heart  of  the  continent ;  within  its  own 
limits  the  sources  of  rivers  that  flow  to  the  gulfs  of  Mexico 
and  St.  Lawrence,  and  to  the  bays  of  Chesapeake  and  Dela- 
ware. Of  all  this,  long  before  Europeans  anchored  off  Sandy 
Hook,  the  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations  availed  themselves  in 
their  excursions  to  Quebec,  to  the  Ohio,  or  the  Susquehanna. 
With  just  sufficient  difficulties  to  irritate,  and  not  enough  to 
dishearten,  "New  York  united  richest  lands  with  the  highest 
adaptation  to  foreign  and  domestic  commerce. 

How  changed  is  the  scene  from  the  wilds  on  which  Hud- 
son gazed  !  The  earth  glows  with  the  colors  of  civilization ; 
the  meadows  are  enamelled  with  choicest  grasses ;  wood- 
lands and  cultivated  fields  are  harmoniously  blended ;  the 
birds  of  spring  find  their  delight  in  orchards  and  trim  gar- 
dens, variegated  with  selected  plants  from  every  temperate 
zone ;  while  the  brilliant  flowers  of  the  tropics  bloom  from  the 
windows  of  the  greenhouse,  or  mock  at  winter  in  the  saloon. 
The  yeoman,  living  like  a  good  neighbor  near  the  fields  he 
cultivates,  glories  in  the  fruitfulness  of  the  valleys,  and  counts 
with  honest  exultation  the  flocks  and  herds  that  browse  in 
safety  on  the  hills.  The  thorn  has  given  way  to  the  rosebush  ; 
the  cultivated  vine  clambers  over  r,ocks  where  the  brood  of 


1609-1610.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  487 

serpents  used  to  nestle ;  while  industry  smiles  at  tlie  changes 
she  has  wrought,  and  inhales  the  bland  air  which  now  has 
health  on  its  wings. 

And  man  is  still  in  harmony  with  nature,  which  he  has 
subdued,  developed,  and  adorned.  For  him  the  rivers  that  flow 
to  remotest  climes  mingle  their  waters ;  for  him  the  lakes  gain 
new  outlets  to  the  ocean ;  for  him  the  arch  spans  the  flood, 
and  science  spreads  iron  pathways  to  the  recent  wilderness ; 
for  him  the  hills  yield  up  the  shining  marble  and  the  enduring 
granite ;  for  him  immense  rafts  bring  down  the  forests  of  the 
interior  ;  for  him  the  marts  of  the  city  gather  the  produce  of 
all  climes,  and  libraries  collect  the  works  of  every  language 
and  age.  The  passions  of  society  are  chastened  into  purity ; 
manners  are  made  benevolent  by  refinement ;  and  the  virtue 
of  the  country  is  the  guardian  of  its  peace.  Science  investi- 
gates the  powers  of  every  plant  and  mineral,  to  find  medicines 
for  disease ;  schools  of  surgery  rival  the  establishments  of  the 
Old  World ;  the  genius  of  letters  begins  to  unfold  its  powers 
in  the  warm  sunshine  of  public  favor.  An  active  daily  press, 
vigilant  from  party  interests,  free  even  to  dissoluteness,  watches 
the  progress  of  society,  and  communicates  every  fact  that  can 
interest  humanity ;  and  commerce  pushes  its  wharfs  into  the 
sea,  blocks  up  the  wide  rivers  with  its  fleets,  and  sends  its 
ships,  the  pride  of  naval  architecture,  to  every  zone. 

A  happy  return  voyage  brought  the  Half  Moon  into 
Dartmouth  on  the  seventh  of  November.  There  the  vessel 
was  arbitrarily  delayed,  and  the  services  of  its  commander  and 
English  seamen  were  claimed  by  their  liege.  Hudson  could 
only  forward  to  his  employers  an  account  of  his  discoveries ; 
he  never  again  saw  Holland  or  the  land  which  he  eulogized. 

The  Dutch  East  India  company  refused  to  search  further 
for  the  north-western  passage ;  but  English  merchants,  renew- 
ing courage,  formed  a  company,  and  Hudson,  in  The  Dis- 
covery, engaged  again  in  his  great  pursuit.  He  had  already 
explored  the  north-east  and  the  north,  and  the  region  between 
the  Chesapeake  and  Maine.  There  was  no  room  for  hope  but 
to  the  north  of  Newfoundland.  Proceeding  by  way  of  Ice- 
land, where  "  the  famous  Hecla  "  was  casting  out  fire,  passing 
Greenland  and  Frobisher's  Straits,  he  sailed  on  the  second  of 


488     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xii, 

August,  1610,  into  the  straits  which  bear  his  name.  As  he  came 
out  from  the  passage  upon  the  wide  gulf,  he  believed  that  he 
beheld  "  a  sea  to  the  westward,"  so  that  the  short  way  to  the 
Pacific  was  found.  How  great  was  his  disappointment,  when 
he  found  liimself  embayed  in  a  labyrinth  without  end.  Still 
confident  of  ultimate  success,  the  determined  mariner  resolved 
on  wintering  in  the  bay,  that  he  might  perfect  his  discovery  in 
the  spring.  His  crew  murmured  at  the  sufferings  of  a  winter 
for  which  no  preparation  had  been  made.  At  length  the  late 
and  anxiously  expected  spring  burst  forth ;  but  it  opened  in 
vain  for  Hudson.  Provisions  were  exhausted ;  he  divided  the 
last  bread  among  his  men,  and  prepared  for  them  a  bill  of  re- 
turn ;  and  '^  he  wept  as  he  gave  it  them."  Believing  himself 
almost  on  the  point  of  succeeding,  where  Spaniards  and  Eng- 
lish, and  Danes  and  Dutch,  had  failed,  he  left  his  anchoring- 
place  to  steer  for  Europe.  For  two  days  the  ship  was  encom- 
passed by  fields  of  ice,  and  the  discontent  of  the  crew  broke 
forth  into  mutiny.  Hudson  was  seized,  and,  with  his  only 
son  and  seven  others,  four  of  whom  were  sick,  was  thrown 
into  the  shallop.  Seeing  his  commander  thus  exposed,  Philip 
Staffe,  the  carpenter,  demanded  and  gained  leave  to  share  his 
fate ;  and  just  as  the  ship  made  its  way  out  of  the  ice,  on  a 
midsummer  day,  in  a  latitude  where  the  sun,  at  that  season, 
hardly  goes  down,  and  evening  twilight  mingles  with  the 
dawn,  the  shallop  was  cut  loose.  What  became  of  Hudson  ? 
Did  he  die  miserably  of  hunger  and  cold  ?  Did  he  reach  land 
to  perish  from  the  fury  of  the  natives  ?  Was  he  crushed  be- 
tween ribs  of  ice?  The  returning  ship  encountered  storms, 
by  which  he  was  probably  overwhelmed.  The  gloomy 
waste  of  waters  which  bears  his  name  is  his  tomb  and  his 
monument. 

The  Half  Moon,  having  been  detained  for  many  months 
in  Dartmouth,  by  the  jealousy  of  the  English,  did  not  reach 
Amsterdam  till  the  middle  of  July,  1610,  too  late,  perhaps,  in 
the  season  for  the  immediate  equipment  of  a  new  voyage.  At 
least  no  definite  trace  of  a  voyage  to  Manhattan  in  that  year 
has  been  discovered.  Besides,  to  avoid  a  competition  with 
England,  the  Dutch  ambassador  at  London,  that  same  year, 
proposed  a  joint  colonization  of  Virginia.,  as  well  as  a  partner- 


1610-161«.  KEW  NETHERLAND.  489 

ship  in  the  East  India  trade ;  but  the  offer  was  put  aside  from 
fear  of  the  superior  "  art  and  industry  of  the  Dutch." 

In  1613,  or  in  one  of  the  two  previous  years,  the  experi- 
enced Hendrik  Christiaensen,  of  Cleve,  "  and  the  worthy 
Adriaen  Block,  chartered  a  ship  with  the  skipper  Ryser,"  and 
made  a  voyage  into  the  waters  of  JS"ew  York,  bringing  back 
rich  furs,  and  two  sons  of  native  sachems. 

The  states  general,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  March,  1614, 
ordained  that  private  adventurers  might  enjoy  an  exclusive 
privilege  for  four  successive  voyages  to  any  passage,  haven,  or 
country  they  should  thereafter  find.  With  such  encourage- 
ment, a  company  of  merchants,  in  the  same  year,  sent  ^ve 
small  vessels,  of  which  the  Fortune,  of  Amsterdam,  had 
Christiaensen  for  its  commander ;  the  Tiger,  of  the  same  port, 
Adriaen  Block ;  the  Fortune,  of  Hoorn,  Cornells  Jacobsen 
May,  to  extend  the  discoveries  of  Hudson,  as  well  as  to  trade 
with  the  natives. 

The  Tiger  was  accidentally  burnt  near  the  island  of 
Manhattan ;  but  Adriaen  Block,  building  a  yacht  of  sixteen 
tons'  burden,  which  he  named  the  Unrest,  plied  forth  to  ex- 
plore the  vicinity.  First  of  European  navigators,  he  steered 
through  Hellgate,  passed  the  archipelago  near  Norwalk,  and 
discovered  the  river  of  Red  Hills,  which  we  know  as  the 
Housatonic.  From  the  bay  of  New  Haven  he  turned  to  the 
east,  and  ascended  the  beautiful  river  which  he  called  the 
Freshwater,  but  which,  to  this  hour,  keeps  its  Indian  name  of 
Connecticut.  Kear  the  site  of  Wethersfield  he  came  upon 
one  Indian  tribe ;  just  above  Hartford,  upon  another ;  and  he 
heard  tales  of  the  Horicans,  who  dwelt  in  the  west,  and  moved 
over  lakes  in  bark  canoes.  The  Pequods  he  found  on  the 
banks  of  their  river.  At  Montauk  Point,  then  occupied  by  a 
savage  nation,  he  reached  the  ocean,  proving  the  land  east  of 
the  sound  to  be  an  island.  After  discovering  the  island  which 
bears  his  name,  and  exploring  both  channels  of  that  which 
owes  to  him  the  name  of  Roode  Eiland,  now  Rhode  Island, 
the  mariner  from  Holland  imposed  the  names  of  places  in  his 
native  land  on  groups  in  the  Atlantic,  which,  years  before, 
Gosnold  and  other  English  navigators  had  visited.  The  Un- 
rest sailed  beyond  Cape  Cod ;  and,  while  John  Smith  wbb 

VOL.  I. — 33 


490    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     part  n. ;  oh.  xn. 

making  maps  of  the  bays  and  coasts  of  Maine  and  Massachu- 
setts, Adriaen  Block  traced  the  shore  as  far,  at  least,  as  Nahant. 
Then  leaving  the  American-built  yacht  at  Cape  Cod,  to  be 
used  by  Cornells  Hendricksen  in  the  fur  trade.  Block  sailed 
in  Christiaensen's  ship  for  Holland. 

The  states  general,  in  an  assembly  where  Olden  Barneveldt 
was  present,  readily  granted  to  the  united  company  of  mer- 
chants interested  in  these  discoveries  a  three  years'  monopoly 
of  trade  with  the  territory  between  Virginia  and  ISTew  France, 
from  forty  to  forty-five  degrees  of  latitude.  Their  charter, 
given  on  the  eleventh  of  October,  1614,  names  the  extensive 
region  New  Nethebland.  Its  northern  part  John  Smith  had 
that  same  year  called  New  England. 

To  prosecute  their  commerce  with  the  natives,  Christiaen- 
sen  built  for  the  company,  on  Castle  island,  south  of  the  pres- 
ent city  of  Albany,  a  truck-house  and  military  post.  The 
building  was  thirty-six  feet  by  twenty-six,  the  stockade  fifty- 
eight  feet  square,  the  moat  eighteen  feet  wide.  The  garrison 
was  composed  of  ten  or  twelve  men.  The  fort,  which  may 
have  been  begun  in  1614,  which  was  certainly  finished  in 
1615,  was  called  Nassau ;  the  river  for  a  time  was  known  as 
the  Maurice.  With  the  Five  Nations  a  friendship  grew  up, 
which  was  soon  ratified  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Iro- 
quois, and  during  the  power  of  the  Dutch  was  never  broken. 
Such  is  the  beginning  of  Albany :  it  was  the  outpost  of  the 
Netherland  fur  trade. 

The  United  Provinces,  now  recognised  even  by  Spain  as 
free  countries,  provinces,  and  states,  set  no  bounds  to  their 
enterprise.  The  world  seemed  not  too  large  for  their  com- 
merce under  the  genial  influence  of  liberty,  achieved  after  a 
struggle  longer  and  more  desperate  than  that  of  Greece  with 
Persia.  This  is  the  golden  age  of  their  trade  with  Japan,  and 
the  epoch  of  their  alliance  with  the  emperor  of  Ceylon.  In 
1611,  their  ships  once  again  braved  the  frosts  of  the  arcticj 
circle  in  search  of  a  new  way  to  China ;  and  it  was  a  Dutch] 
discoverer,  Schouten,  from  Hoorn,  who,  in  1616,  left  the  namej 
of  his  own  beloved  sea-port  on  the  southernmost  point  of  Southl 
America.  In  the  same  year  a  report  was  made  of  further  ex-| 
plorations  in  North  America.   Three  Netherlanders — who  went 


1616-1621.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  491 

up  the  Mohawk  valley,  struck  a  branch  of  the  Delaware,  and 
made  their  way  to  Indians  near  the  site  of  Philadelphia — were 
found  by  Cornells  Hendricksen,  as  he  came  in  the  Unrest  to 
explore  the  bay  and  rivers  of  Delaware.  On  his  return  to 
Holland,  in  1616,  the  merchants  by  whom  he  had  been  em- 
ployed claimed  the  discovery  of  the  country  between  thirty- 
eight  and  forty  degrees.  He  described  the  inhabitants  as 
trading  in  sables,  furs,  and  other  skins ;  the  land  as  a  vast 
forest,  abounding  in  bucks  and  does,  in  turkeys  and  partridges ; 
the  climate  temperate,  like  that  of  Holland ;  tjie  trees  mantled 
by  the  vine.  But  the  states  general  refused  to  grant  a  mo- 
nopoly of  trade. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1618,  the  exclusive  privilege 
conceded  to  the  company  of  merchants  for  'New  I^etherland 
expired  ;  but  voyages  continued  to  be  made  by  their  agents  as 
well  as  by  rival  enterprise.  The  fort  near  Albany  having  been 
destroyed  by  a  flood,  a  new  post  was  taken  on  I^orman's  Kill. 
But  the  strife  of  political  parties  still  retarded  the  establish- 
ment of  permanent  settlements.  By  the  constitution  of  the 
Low  Countries,  the  municipal  officers,  who  were  named  by  the 
stadholder  or  were  self-renewed  on  the  principle  of  close  cor- 
porations, appointed  delegates  to  the  provincial  states;  and 
these,  again,  a  representative  to  the  states  general.  The  states, 
the  true  personation  of  a  fixed  commercial  aristocracy,  resisted 
popular  innovations ;  and  the  same  instinct  which  led  the 
Romans  to  elevate  Julius  Caesar,  the  commons  of  England  to 
sustain  Henry  YII.,  the  Danes  to  confer  hereditary  power  on 
the  descendants  of  Frederick  III.,  the  French  to  substitute 
absolute  for  feudal  monarchy,  induced  the  people  of  Holland 
to  favor  the  stadholder.  The  antagonism  extended  to  domestic 
politics,  theology,  and  international  intercourse.  The  friends 
of  the  stadholder  asserted  sovereignty  for  the  states  general,, 
while  the  party  of  Olden  Barneveldt  and  Grotius,  with  greater 
reason  in  point  of  historic  facts,  claimed  sovereignty  exclu- 
sively for  the  provincial  assemblies.  Prince  Maurice,  who.' 
desired  to  renew  the  war  with  Spain,  favored  colonization  in 
America ;  the  party  of  Bameveld,  fearing  the  increase  of  ex- 
ecutive power,  opposed  it  from  fear  of  new  collisions.  The 
Orthodox,  who  satisfied  the  natural  passion  for  equality  by 


492    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  ch.  xii. 

denying  personal  merit,  and  ascribing  every  virtue  and  capa- 
city to  the  benevolence  of  God,  leaned  to  the  crowd ;  while 
the  Arminians,  nourishing  pride  by  asserting  power  and  merit 
in  man,  commended  their  creed  to  the  upholders  of  numerous 
local  sovereignties.  Thus  the  Calvinists,  popular  enthusiasm, 
and  the  stadholder,  were  arrayed  against  the  provincial  states 
and  municipalities.  The  colonization  of  New  York  by  the 
Dutch  depended  on  the  struggle,  and  the  issue  was  not  long 
doubtful.  The  excesses  of  political  ambition,  disguised  under 
the  forms  of  religious  controversy,  led  to  violent  counsels. 
In  August,  1618,  Olden  Bame veldt  and  Grotius  were  taken 
into  custody. 

In  November,  1618,  a  few  weeks  after  the  first  acts  of 
violence,  the  states  general  gave  a  limited  incorporation  to  a 
company  of  merchants ;  yet  the  conditions  of  the  charter  were 
not  inviting,  and  no  organization  took  place.  In  May  of  the 
following  year,  Grotius,  the  first  political  writer  of  his  age,  was 
condemned  to  imprisonment  for  life,  and,  by  the  default  of 
the  stadholder.  Olden  Barneveldt,  at  the  age  of  threescore 
years  and  twelve,  the  venerable  founder  of  the  republic,  was 
conducted  to  the  scaffold. 

These  events  hastened  the  colonization  of  New  Nether- 
iland,  where  as  yet  no  Europeans  had  repaired  except  com- 
mercial agents  and  their  subordinates.  In  1620,  merchants  of 
Holland,  who  had  thus  far  had  a  trade  only  in  Hudson  river, 
wished  to  plant  there  a  new  commonwealth,  lest  the  king  of 
'Great  Britain  should  first  people  its  banks  with  the  English 
nation.  To  this  end  it  was  proposed  to  send  over  John  Kob- 
inson,  with  four  hundred  families  of  his  persuasion ;  but  the 
pilgrims  had  not  lost  their  love  for  the  land  of  their  nativity, 
and  the  states  were  unwilling  to  guarantee  them  protection. 
A  voyage  from  Virginia,  to  vindicate  the  trade  in  the  Hudson 
for  England,  proved  a  total  loss.  The  settlement  on  that 
river  grew  directly  out  of  the  great  continental  struggles  of 
Protestantism. 

The  thirty  years'  war  of  religion  in  Germany  had  begun ; 
the  twelve  years'  truce  between  the  Netherlands  and  the 
Spanish  king  had  nearly  expired  ;  Austria  hoped  to  crush  the 
Reformation  in  the  empire,  and  Spain  to  recover  dominion 


1621.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  493 

over  its  ancient  provinces.  The  states  general,  whose  exist- 
ence was  menaced  by  a  combination  of  hostile  powers,  were 
summoned  to  display  unparalleled  energy  in  their  foreign 
relations ;  and  on  the  third  of  June,  1621,  the  Dutch  West  | 
India  company,  which  became  the  sovereign  of  the  central  ' 
portion  of  the  United  States,  was  incorporated  for  twenty-four 
years,  with  a  pledge  of  a  renewal  of  its  charter.  It  was  in- 
vested, on  the  part  of  the  Netherlands,  with  the  exclusive 
privilege  to  traffic  and  plant  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa 
from  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  on 
the  coast  of  America,  from  the  straits  of  Magellan  to  the  j 
remotest  north.  Subscription  to  its  joint  stock  was  open  to 
every  nation ;  the  states  general  made  it  a  gift  of  half  a  mil- 
lion of  guilders,  and  were  stockholders  to  the  amount  of 
another  half  million.  The  franchises  of  the  company  were 
immense,  that  it  might  lay  its  own  plans,  provide  for  its  own 
defence,  and  in  all  things  take  care  of  itself.  The  states  gen- 
eral, in  case  of  war,  were  to  be  known  only  as  its  allies  and 
patrons.  While  it  was  expected  to  render  efficient  aid  in  the 
impending  war  with  Spain,  its  permanent  objects  were  the 
peopling  of  fruitful  unsettled  countries  and  the  increase  of 
trade.  It  might  acquire  provinces,  but  only  at  its  own  risk ; 
and  it  was  endowed  with  absolute  power  over  its  possessions, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  states  general.  The  company 
was  divided  into  five  branches  or  chambers,  of  which  that  in 
Amsterdam  represented  four  ninths  of  the  whole.  The  gov- 
ernment was  intrusted  to  a  board  of  nineteen,  of  whom  eigh- 
teen represented  the  ^ve  branches,  and  one  was  named  by  the 
states. 

A  nation  of  merchants  gave  away  the  leave  to  appro-  . 
priate  continents ;  and  the  corporate  company,  invested  with 
a  boundless  liberty  of  choice,  culled  the  rich  territories  of 
Guinea,  Brazil,  and  l^ew  Netherland. 


4:94     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.    paetii.;  ch.  xin. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

NEW   NETHEKLAND   AND    NEW    SWEDEN. 

Colonization  on  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware  was  neither 
the  motive  nor  the  main  object  of  the  estabhshment  of  the 
Dutch  West  India  company ;  the  territory  was  not  described 
either  in  the  charter  or  at  that  time  in  any  public  act  of  the 
states  general,  which  neither  made  a  formal  specific  grant  nor 
offered  to  guarantee  the  possession  of  a  single  foot  of  land. 
Before  the  chamber  of  Amsterdam,  under  the  authority  of 
the  company,  assumed  the  care  of  !N'ew  Netherland,  while  the 
trade  was  still  prosecuted  by  private  enterprise,  the  English 
privy  council  listened  to  the  complaint  of  Arundel,  Gorges, 
Argall,  and  Mason  of  the  Plymouth  company  against  "the 
Dutch  intruders ; "  and  by  the  king's  direction,  in  February, 
1622,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  then  British  ambassador  at  the 
Hague,  claiming  the  country  as  a  part  of  New  England,  re- 
quired the  states  general  to  stay  the  prosecution  of  their 
plantation.  This  remonstrance  received  no  explicit  answer; 
while  Carleton  reported  of  the  Dutch  that  all  their  trade  there 
was  in  ships  of  sixty  or  eighty  tons  at  the  most,  to  fetch  furs, 
nor  could  he  learn  that  they  had  either  planted  or  designed 
to  plant  a  colony.  The  English,  at  that  time  disheartened  by 
the  sufferings  and  losses  encountered  in  Virginia,  were  not 
disposed  to  incur  the  unprofitable  expense  of  a  new  settle- 
ment ;  and  the  Dutch  ships,  which  went  over  in  1622,  found 
none  to  dispute  the  possession  of  the  country. 

The  organization  of  the  West  India  company,  m  1623,  was 
the  epoch  of  its  zealous  efforts  at  colonization.  In  the  spring 
of  that  year,  the  New  Netherland,  a  ship  of  two  hundred 
and  sixty  tons'  burden,  carried  out  thirty  families.     They  were 


1623-1628.    NEW  NETHERLAND   AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  495 

chiefly  Walloons,  Protestant  fugitives  from  Belgian  provinces. 
April  was  gone  before  the  vessel  reached  Manhattan.  A 
party  under  the  command  of  Cornells  Jacobsen  May,  who  has 
left  his  name  on  the  southern  county  and  cape  of  New  Jersey, 
ascended  the  river  Delaware,  then  known  as  the  South  river 
of  the  Dutch,  and  on  Timber  creek,  a  stream  that  enters  the 
Delaware  a  few  miles  below  Camden,  built  Fort  Nassau.  At 
the  same  time  Adriaen  Joris,  on  the  site  of  Albany,  threw  up 
and  completed  the  fort  named  Orange.  Eighteen  families 
were  settled  round  the  fort  in  huts  of  bark,  and  were  pro- 
tected by  covenants  of  friendship  with  the  various  tribes  of 
Indians. 

The  next  year,  1624,  may  be  taken  as  the  era  of  a  con- 
tinuous civil  government,  with  Cornells  Jacobsen  May  as  the 
first  director.  It  had  power  to  punish,  but  not  with  death ; 
judgments  for  capital  crimes  were  to  be  referred  to  Amster- 
dam. The  ship  that  took  over  emigrants  returned  laden  with 
furs,  and  the  Dutch  in  the  New  World  were  reported  to  be 
bravely  prosperous. 

In  1625,  May  was  succeeded  by  William  Yerhulst.  The 
colony  was  gladdened  by  the  arrival  of  two  large  ships 
freighted  with  cattle  and  horses,  as  well  as  swine  and  sheep. 
At  Fort  Orange  a  child  of  Netherland  parentage  was  bom. 
In  that  year,  Frederick  Henry,  the  new-  stadholder,  was  able 
to  quell  the  passions  of  religious  sects,  and  unite  all  parties 
in  a  common  love  of  country.  Danger  from  England  was 
diminished ;  for  Charles  I.,  soon  after  his  accession,  entered 
into  a  most  intimate  alliance  with  the  Dutch.  Just  then  Jean 
de  Laet,  a  member  of  the  chamber  of  Amsterdam,  in  an  elabo- 
rate work  on  the  West  Indies,  opportunely  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  his  countrymen  to  their  rising  colony,  and  published 
Hudson's  glowing  description  of  the  land. 

Under  such  auspices,  Peter  Minuit,  a  German  of  Wesel, 
in  January,  1626,  sailed  for  New  Netherland  as  its  director- 
general.  He  arrived  there  on  the  fourth  of  May.  Hitherto 
the  Dutch  had  no  title  to  ownership  of  the  land;  Minuit 
purchased  the  island  of  Manhattan  from  its  native  proprietors. 
The  price  paid  was  sixty  guilders,  about  twenty-four  dollars, 
for  more  than  twenty  thousand  acres.     The  southern  point 


4:96    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO  1688.    past  ii. ;  oh.  xm. 

was  selected  for  "  a  battery,"  and  lines  were  drawn  for  a  fort, 
which  took  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam.  The  town  had 
already  thirty  houses,  and  the  emigrants'  wives  had  borne 
them  children.  In  the  want  of  a  regular  minister,  two  "  con- 
solers of  the  sick  "  read  to  the  people  on  Sundays  "  texts  out 
of  the  scriptures,  together  with  the  creeds." 

JSTo  danger  appeared  in  the  distance  except  from  the  pre- 
tensions of  England.  The  government  of  Manhattan  sought 
an  interchange  of  "  friendly  kindness  and  neighborhood  "  with 
the  nearest  English  at  JS'ew  Plymouth ;  and  by  a  public  letter, 
in  March,  1627,  it  claimed  mutual  "good-will  and  service," 
pleading  "  the  nearness  of  their  native  countries,  the  friend- 
ship of  their  forefathers,  and  the  new  covenant  between  the 
states  general  and  England  against  the  Spaniards."  Bradford, 
in  reply,  gladly  accepted  the  "testimony  of  love."  "Our 
children  after  us,"  he  added,  "  shall  never  forget  the  good  and 
courteous  entreaty  which  we  found  in  your  country,  and  shall 
desire  your  prosperity  forever."  His  benediction  was  sincere ; 
though  he  called  to  mind  that  the  English  patent  for  l^ew 
England  extended  to  forty  degrees,  within  which,  therefore, 
the  Dutch  had  no  right  "to  plant  or  trade ; "  and  he  especially 
begged  them  not  to  send  their  yachts  into  the  I^Tarragansett. 

"Our  authority  to  trade  and  plant  we  derive  from  the 
states  of  Holland,  and  will  defend  it,"  rejoined  Minuit.  But, 
in  October  of  the  same  year,  he  sent  De  Rasieres,  who  stood 
next  him  in  rank,  on  a  conciliatory  embassy  to  'New  Ply- 
mouth. The  envoy  proceeded  in  state  with  soldiers  and  musi- 
cians. At  Scusset,  on  Cape  Cod  bay,  he  was  met  by  a  boat 
from  the  Old  Colony,  and  "  was  honorably  attended  with  the 
noise  of  trumpets."  He  succeeded  in  concerting  a  mutual 
trade;  but  Bradford  still  warned  the  authorities  of  New 
Amsterdam  to  "  clear  their  title  "  to  their  lands  without  delay. 
The  advice  seemed  like  a  wish  to  hunt  the  Dutch  out  of  their 
infant  colony,  and  led  the  board  of  nineteen  to  ask  of  the 
states  general  forty  soldiers  for  its  defence. 

Such  were  the  rude  beginnings  of  New  I^etherland.  The 
women  and  children  of  the  colony  were  concentred  on  Man- 
hattan, which,  in  1628,  counted  a  population  of  two  hundred 
and  seventy  souls,  including  Dutch,  Walloons,  and  slaves  from 


1628-1630.    NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  497 

Angola.  Jonas  Michaelius,  a  clergyman,  arriving  in  April  of 
that  year,  "  established  a  church,"  which  chose  Minuit  one  of 
its  two  elders,  and  at  the  first  administration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  counted  fifty  communicants.  This  was  the  age  of 
hunters  and  Indian  traders  ;  of  trafiic  in  the  skins  of  otters 
and  beavers ;  when  the  native  tribes  were  employed  in  the 
pursuit  of  game  as  far  as  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  skiffs  of 
the  Dutch,  in  quest  of  furs,  penetrated  every  bay  and  inlet, 
from  Narragansett  to  the  Delaware.  It  was  the  day  of  straw 
roofs  and  wooden  chimneys  and  windmills.  There  had  been 
no  extraordinary  charge ;  there  was  no  multitude  of  people ; 
but  labor  was  well  directed  and  profitable ;  and  the  settlement 
promised  fairly  both  to  the  state  and  to  the  undertakers.  The 
experiment  in  feudal  institutions  followed. 

Reprisals  on  Spanish  commerce  were  the  alluring  pursuit 
of  the  West  India  company.  On  a  single  occasion,  in  1628, 
the  captures  secured  by  its  privateers  were  almost  eightyfold 
more  valuable  than  all  the  exports  from  their  colony  for  the 
four  preceding  years.  While  the  company  of  merchant  war- 
riors, conducting  their  maritime  enterprises  like  princes,  were 
making  prizes  of  the  rich  fleets  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  and, 
by  their  victories,  pouring  the  wealth  of  America  into  their 
treasury,  the  states  general  interposed  to  subject  the  govern- 
ment of  foreign  conquests  to  a  council  of  nine  ;  and,  in  1629, 
the  board  of  nineteen  adopted  a  charter  of  privileges  for  pa- 
troons  who  desired  to  found  colonies  in  New  Netherland. 

These  colonies  were  to  resemble  the  lordships  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Every  one  who  would  emigrate  on  his  own  account 
was  promised  as  much  land  as  he  could  cultivate  ;  but  hus- 
bandmen were  not  expected  to  emigrate  without  aid.  The 
liberties  of  Holland  were  the  fruit  of  municipalities;  the 
country  people  were  subordinate  to  their  landlord,  against 
whose  oppression  the  town  was  their  refuge.  The  boors  en- 
joyed as  yet  no  political  franchises,  and  had  not  had  the  expe- 
rience required  for  planting  states  on  a  principle  of  equality. 
To  the  enterprise  of  proprietaries  'New  Netherland  was  to 
owe  its  tenants.  He  that  within  four  years  would  plant  a 
oolony  of  fifty  souls  became  lord  of  the  manor,  or  patroon, 
possessing  in  absolute  property  the  lands  he  might  colonize. 


4:98    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.     paetii.;  oh.  xiii. 

Those  lands  might  extend  sixteen  miles  in  length  ;  or,  if  they 
lay  upon  both  sides  of  a  river,  eight  miles  on  each  bank,  stretch- 
ing indefinitely  far  into  the  interior ;  yet  it  was  stipulated  that 
the  soil  must  be  purchased  of  the  Indians.  Were  cities  to 
grow  up,  the  institution  of  their  government  would  rest  with 
the  patroon,  who  was  to  exercise  judicial  power,  yet  subject 
to  appeals.  The  schoolmaster  and  the  minister  were  praised 
as  desirable ;  but  there  was  no  provision  for  their  mainten- 
ance. The  colonists  were  forbidden  to  manufacture  any  wool- 
len or  linen  or  cotton  fabrics ;  not  a  web  might  be  woven, 
not  a  shuttle  thrown,  on  penalty  of  exile.  To  impair  the  . 
monopoly  of  the  Dutch  weavers  was  punishable  as  perjury.  ' 
The  company,  moreover,  pledged  itself  to  furnish  the  manors 
with  negroes ;  yet  not,  it  was  warily  provided,  unless  the  traffic 
should  prove  lucrative.  The  isle  of  Manhattan,  as  the  chosen 
seat  of  commerce,  was  reserved  to  the  company. 

This  charter  of  liberties  was  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the 
corporation ;  its  directors  and  agents  immediately  appropriated  / 
to  themselves  the  most  valuable  portions  of  its  territory.  In  ] 
June,  1629,  three  years,  therefore,  before  the  concession  of  the 
charter  for  Maryland,  Samuel  Godyn  and  Samuel  Blommaert, 
both  directors  of  the  Amsterdam  chamber,  bargained  with 
the  natives  for  the  soil  from  Cape  Henlopen  to  the  mouth  of 
Delaware  river;  in  July,  1630,  this  purchase  of  an  estate, 
more  than  thirty  miles  long,  was  ratified  at  Fort  Amsterdam 
by  Minuit  and  his  council.  It  is  the  oldest  deed  for  land  in 
Delaware,  and  comprises  the  water-line  of  the  two  southern 
counties  of  that  state.  Still  larger  domains  were  in  the  same 
year  appropriated  by  the  agents  of  another  director  of  the 
Amsterdam  chamber,  Kiliaen  van  Rensselaer,  to  whom  succes- 
sive purchases  from  Mohawk  and  Mohican  chiefs  gave  titles 
to  land  north  and  south  of  Fort  Orange.  His  deeds  were 
promptly  confirmed  ;  so  that  his  possessions,  including  a  later 
supplementary  acquisition,  extended  above  and  below  Fort 
Orange,  for  twenty-four  miles  on  each  side  of  the  river,  and 
forty-eight  miles  into  the  interior.  In  the  same  year  he  sent 
out  emigrants  to  the  colony  of  Rensselaerwyck.  In  July,  1630, 
Michael  Pauw,  another  director,  bought  Staten  Island  ;  in  the 
following  IsTovember  he  became  the  patroon  of  Hoboken  and 


1630-1635.    NEW   NETHERLAND   AND  NEW   SWEDEN.  499 

what  is  now  Jersey  City ;  and  he  named  his  "  colonic  "  on  the 
mainland  Pavonia. 

The  company  had  designed  by  its  charter  of  liberties  to 
favor  the  peopling  of  the  province,  and  yet  to  retain  its  trade ; 
under  pretence  of  advancing  agriculture,  individuals  had  ac- 
quired a  title  to  all  the  important  points  where  the  natives 
resorted  for  traffic.  As  a  necessary  consequence,  the  feudal 
possessors  were  often  in  collision  with  the  central  government, 
while,  to  the  humble  emigrant,  the  monopoly  of  commerce  was 
aggravated  by  the  monopoly  of  land. 

A  company  was  soon  formed  to  colonize  the  tract  acquired 
by  Godyn  and  Blommaert.  The  first  settlement  in  Delaware, 
older  than  any  in  Pennsylvania,  was  undertaken  by  a  company, 
of  which  Godyn,  Yan  Rensselaer,  Blommaert,  the  historian 
De  Laet,  and  a  new  partner,  David  Pietersen  de  Yries,  were 
members.  By  joint  enterprise,  in  December,  1630,  a  ship  of 
eighteen  guns,  commanded  by  Pieter  Heyes,  and  laden  with 
emigrants,  store  of  seeds,  cattle,  and  agricultural  implements, 
embarked  from  the  Texel,  partly  to  cover  the  southern  shore 
of  Delaware  bay  with  fields  of  wheat  and  tobacco,  and  partly 
for  a  whale,  fishery  on  the  coast.  A  yacht  which  went  in  com- 
pany was  taken  by  a  Dunkirk  privateer ;  early  in  the  spring 
of  1631  the  larger  vessel  reached  its  destination,  and  just 
within  Cape  Henlopen,  on  Lewes  creek,  planted  a  colony  of 
more  than  thirty  souls.  The  superintendence  of  the  settle- 
ment was  intrusted  to  Gillis  Hosset.  A  little  fort  was  built 
and  well  beset  with  palisades ;  the  arms  of  Holland  were 
affixed  to  a  pillar ;  the  country  received  the  name  of  Swaanen- 
dael ;  the  water  that  of  Godyn's  bay.  The  voyage  of  Heyes 
was  the  cradling  of  a  state.  That  Delaware  exists  as  a  separate 
commonwealth  is  due  to  this  colony.  According  to  English 
rule,  occupancy  was  necessary  to  complete  a  title  to  the  wil- 
derness ;  and  the  Dutch  now  occupied  Delaware. 

On  the  fifth  of  May,  Heyes  and  Hosset,  in  behalf  of 
Godyn  and  Blommaert,  made  a  further  purchase  from  Indian 
chiefs  of  the  opposite  coast  of  Cape  May,  for  twelve  miles  on 
the  bay,  on  the  sea,  and  in  the  interior ;  and,  in  June,  this 
sale  of  a  tract,  twelve  miles  square,  was  formally  attested  at 
Manhattan. 


500    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xin. 

Animated  by  the  courage  of  Godyn,  the  patroons  of 
Swaanendael  fitted  out  a  second  expedition,  under  the  com- 
mand of  De  Yries.  But,  before  he  set  sail,  news  was  re- 
ceived of  the  destruction  of  the  fort,  and  the  murder  of  its 
people.  Hosset,  the  commandant,  had  caused  the  death  of  an 
Indian  chief ;  and  the  revenge  of  the  savages  was  not  appeased 
till  not  one  of  the  emigrants  remained  alive.  De  Yries,  on 
his  arrival,  found  only  the  ruins  of  the  house  and  its  palisades, 
half  consumed  by  fire,  and  here  and  there  the  bones  of  the 
colonists. 

Before  the  Dutch  could  recover  the  soil  of  Delaware  from 
the  natives,  the  patent  granted  to  Baltimore  gave  them  an 
English  competitor.  Distracted  by  anarchy,  the  administra- 
tion of  'New  Ketherland  could  not  withstand  encroachments. 
The  too  powerful  patroons  disputed  the  fur  trade  with  the 
agents  of  the  West  India  company.  In  1632,  to  still  the  quar- 
rels, the  discontented  Minuit  was  displaced ;  but  the  inherent 
evils  in  the  system  were  not  lessened  by  appointing  as  his  suc- 
cessor the  selfish  and  incompetent  Wouter  van  Twiller.  The 
English  government  claimed  that  New  Netherland  was  planted 
only  on  sufferance.  The  ship  in  which  Minuit  embarked  for 
Holland  entered  Plymouth  in  a  stress  of  weather,  and  was  de- 
tained for  a  time  on  the  allegation  that  it  had  traded  without 
license  in  a  part  of  the  king's  dominions.  Yan  Twiller,  who 
arrived  at  Manhattan  in  April,  1633,  was  defied  by  an  English 
ship,  which  sailed  up  the  river  before  his  eyes.  The  rush  of 
Puritan  emigrants  to  New  England  had  quickened  the  move- 
ments of  the  Dutch  on  the  Connecticut,  which  they  un- 
doubtedly were  the  first  to  discover  and  to  occupy.  On  the 
eighth  of  January,  1633,  the  soil  round  Hartford  was  pui^ 
chased  of  the  natives,  and  a  fort  was  erected  on  land  within 
the  present  limits  of  that  city,  some  months  before  the  pil- 
grims of  Plymouth  colony  raised  their  block-house  at  Wind- 
sor, and  more  than  two  years  before  the  people  of  Hooker  and 
Haynes,  in  1635,  began  the  commonwealth  of  Connecticut. 
Like  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  the  country  had  been  first  ex- 
plored, and  even  occupied,  by  the  Dutch ;  but  should  a  log- 
hut  and  a  few  straggling  soldiers  seal  a  territory  against  other 
emigrants  ?    The  English  planters  were  on  a  soil  of  which  the 


1635-1637.    NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  601 

English  monarcli  had  made  a  grant;  they  were  there  with 
their  wives  and  children.  It  were  a  sin,  said  they,  to  leave  so 
fertile  a  land  unimproved.  Their  religious  enthusiasm,  zeal 
for  popular  liberty,  and  numbers,  did  not  leave  the  issue  un- 
certain. Altercations  continued  for  years.  The  Dutch  fort 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  West  India  company  till 
it  was  surrounded  by  English  towns.  At  last,  the  English  in 
Connecticut  grew  so  numerous  as  not  only  to  overwhelm  its 
garrison,  but,  under  a  grant  from  Lord  Stirling,  to  plant  a 
part  of  Long  Island.  In  1640,  the  second  year  of  the  govern- 
ment of  WilHam  Kieft,  the  arms  of  the  Dutch  on  the  east  end 
of  that  island  were  thrown  down  in  derision,  and  a  fool's  head 
set  in  their  place. 

While  the  New  England  men  were  thus  encroaching  on 
the  Dutch  on  the  east,  a  new  competitor  for  possessions  in 
America  appeared  in  Delaware  bay.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the 
greatest  benefactor  of  mankind  in  the  line  of  Swedish  kings, 
had  discerned  the  advantages  which  might  be  expected  from 
colonies  and  widely  extended  commerce.  In  1624,  the  royal 
zeal  was  encouraged  by  William  Usselinx,  a  Netherlander,  who 
for  many  years  had  given  thought  to  the  subject.  At  his 
instance,  in  June,  1626,  a  commercial  company,  with  exclusive 
privileges  to  traffic  beyond  the  straits  of  Gibraltar  and  with  the 
right  of  planting  colonies,  was  sanctioned  by  the  king,  and,  on 
the  first  of  May,  1627,  incorporated  by  the  states  of  Sweden. 
The  stock  was  open  to  all  Europe  for  subscription ;  the  king 
himself  pledged  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  royal 
treasure  on  equal  risks ;  the  chief  place  of  business  was  estab- 
lished at  Gottenburg;  a  branch  was  promised  to  any  city 
which  would  embark  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the 
undertaking.  The  government  of  the  future  colonies  was 
reserved  to  a  royal  council ;  for  "  politics,"  says  the  charter, 
"  lie  beyond  the  profession  of  merchants."  Men  of  every 
rank  were  solicited  to  engage  in  the  enterprise  ;  it  was  resolved 
to  invite  "  colonists  from  all  the  nations  of  Europe."  Other 
nations  employed  slaves  in  their  colonies  ;  and  "  slaves,"  said 
they,  "  cost  a  great  deal,  labor  with  reluctance,  and  soon  perish 
from  hard  usage ;  the  Swedish  nation  is  laborious  and  intelli- 
gent, and  surely  we  shall  gain  more  by  a  free  people  with 


502    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  xiii. 

wives  and  children."  To  the  Scandinavian  imagination,  hope 
painted  the  'New  World  as  a  paradise ;  the  proposed  colony  as 
a  benefit  to  the  persecuted,  a  security  "  to  the  honor  of  the 
wives  and  daughters  "  of  those  whom  wars  and  bigotry  had 
made  fugitives ;  a  blessing  to  the  "  common  man ; "  to  the 
"  whole  Protestant  world."  It  may  prove  the  advantage,  said 
Gustavus  in  1629,  of  "  all  oppressed  Christendom." 

But  the  reviving  influence  of  the  pope  menaced  Protestant 
Christendom  with  ruin.  The  insurrection  against  intellectual 
servitude,  of  which  the  Reformation  was  the  great  expression, 
appeared  in  danger  of  being  suppressed,  when,  in  May,  1630, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  resolved  to  invade  Germany  and  vindicate 
the  rights  of  conscience  with  his  sword.  The  cherished  pur- 
pose of  colonization  yielded  for  the  moment,  and  the  funds 
of  the  company  were  arbitrarily  applied  as  resources  in  the 
war.  It  was  a  war  of  revolution  ;  a  struggle  to  secure  German 
liberty  by  establishing  religious  equality  ;  and  the  great  events 
on  which  the  destinies  of  Germany  were  suspended  did  but 
enlarge  the  design  of  Gustavus  in  America.  At  E^uremberg, 
on  the  sixteenth  of  October,  1632,  only  a  few  days  before  the 
battle  of  Liitzen,  where  humanity  won  one  of  its  most  glorious 
victories  and  lost 'one  of  its  ablest  defenders,  the  enterprise, 
which  still  appeared  to  him  as  "  the  jewel  of  his  kingdom," 
was  recommended  to  the  people  of  Germany. 

In  confirming  the  invitation  to  Germany,  Oxenstiem,  in 
April,  1633,  declared  himself  to  be  but  the  executor  of  the 
wish  of  Gustavus.  The  same  wise  statesman,  one  of  the  great 
men  of  all  time,  the  serene  chancellor,  who,  in  the  busiest 
scenes,  never  took  a  care  with  him  to  his  couch,  renewed  the 
patent  of  the  company  in  June  of  that  year,  and  in  December, 
1(534,  extended  its  benefits  to  Germany.  The  charter  was  soon 
confirmed  by  the  deputies  of  the  four  upper  circles  at  Frank- 
fort. "  The  consequences "  of  this  design,  said  Oxenstiern, 
"  will  be  favorable  to  all  Christendom,  to  Europe,  to  the  whole 
world."  And  were  they  not  so  ?  The  first  permanent  colo- 
nization of  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  is  due  to  Oxenstiern. 

Yet  more  than  four  years  passed  away  before  the  design 
was  carried  into  effect.  We  have  seen  Minuit,  the  early  gov- 
ernor of  !N^ew  Netherland,  forfeit  his  place  amid  the  strifes  of 


1637-1643.    NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  503 

faction.  He  now  offered  the  benefit  of  his  experience  to  the 
Swedes,  and,  leaving  Sweden,  probably  near  the  close  of  the 
year  1637,  he  sailed  for  the  bay  of  Delaware.  Two  vessels, 
the  Key  of  Calmar  and  the  Griffin,  formed  his  whole  fleet ; 
the  Swedish  government  supplied  the  emigrants  with  a  reli- 
gious teacher,  with  provisions,  and  merchandise  for  traffic  with 
the  natives.  Early  in  the  year  1638,  the  little  company  of 
Swedes  and  Finns  arrived  in  the  Delaware  bay;  the  lands 
from  the  southern  cape,  which  the  emigrants  from  hyperborean 
regions  named  Paradise  Point,  to  the  falls  in  the  river  at 
Trenton,  were  purchased  of  the  natives ;  and,  near  the  mouth 
of  Christiana  creek,  within  the  limits  of  the  present  state  of 
Delaware,  Christiana  fort,  so  called  from  the  child  who  was 
then  queen  of  Sweden,  was  erected. 

The  records  at  Albany  still  preserve  the  paper  in  which 
Kieft,  then  director-general  of  l^ew  l^etherland,  claimed  for 
the  Dutch  the  country  on  the  Delaware  :  their  possession  had 
long  been  guarded  by  forts,  and  had  been  sealed  by  the  blood 
of  their  countrymen.  But  at  that  time  the  fame  of  Swedish 
arms  protected  the  Swedish  flag  in  the  IS'ew  World ;  and,  while 
Banner  and  Torstenson  were  humbling  Austria  and  Denmark, 
the  Dutch  did  not  proceed  beyond  a  protest. 

Meantime,  tidings  of  the  loveliness  of  the  country  had  been 
borne  to  Scandinavia,  and  the  peasantry  of  Sweden  and  of 
Finland  longed  to  exchange  their  farms  in  Europe  for  homes 
on  the  Delaware.  At  the  last  considerable  expedition,  there 
were  more  than  a  hundred  families  eager  to  embark  for  the 
land  of  promise,  and  unable  to  obtain  a  passage  in  the  crowded 
vessels.  The  plantations  of  the  Swedes  were  gradually  ex- 
tended, and,  when  the  Dutch  renewed  their  fort  at  l^assau, 
Printz,  the  then  Swedish  governor,  in  1643,  established  his 
residence  on  the  island  of  Tinicum,  a  few  miles  below  Phila- 
delphia. A  fort,  constructed  of  hemlock  logs,  defended  the 
island,  and  houses  began  to  cluster  in  its  neighborhood. 
Pennsylvania,  like  Delaware,  traces  its  lineage  to  the  Swedes, 
who  had  planted  a  suburb  of  Philadelphia  before  William 
Penn  became  its  proprietary.  New  Sweden  grew  up  on  the 
bay  and  the  river  Delaware. 

While  the  limits  of  New  Netherland  were  narrowed  by 


504    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    part  n. ;  oh.  xiii. 

competitors  on  the  east  and  on  the  south,  and  Long  Island 
was  soon  to  be  claimed  by  the  agent  of  Lord  Stirling,  the 
colony  was  almost  annihilated  by  the  neighboring  Algonkin 
tribes.  Angry  and  even  bloody  quarrels  had  arisen  between 
dishonest  traders  and  savages  maddened  by  intoxication.  In 
1640,  the  blameless  settlement  on  Staten  Island  had,  in  conse- 
quence, been  ruined  by  the  undiscriminating  vengeance  of  the 
tribes  of  New  Jersey.  An  Indian  boy  who  had  been  present 
when,  years  before,  his  uncle  had  heeT\  robbed  and  murdered, 
had  vowed  revenge,  and,  in  1641,  when  grown  to  man's  estate, 
remembered  and  executed  the  vow  of  his  childhood.  A  rov- 
ing but  fruitless  expedition  into  the  country  south  of  the 
Hudson  was  the  consequence.  The  Karitans  were  outlawed, 
and  a  bounty  of  ten  fathoms  of  wampum  was  offered  for  every 
member  of  the  tribe.  The  approach  of  danger  brought  with 
it  the  necessity  of  consulting  the  people,  and  the  commons 
elected  a  body  of  twelve  to  assist  the  governor.  De  Tries,  the 
head  of  the  committee,  urged  the  advantage  of  friendship  with 
the  natives.  But  the  son  of  a  chief,  stung  by  the  conviction 
of  having  been  defrauded  and  robbed,  aimed  an  unerring  ar- 
row at  the  first  Hollander  exposed  to  his  fury.  In  1642,  a 
deputation  of  the  river  chieftains  hastened  to  express  their 
sorrow,  and  deplore  the  never-ending  alternations  of  blood- 
shed. The  murderer  they  could  not  deliver  up ;  but,  after 
the  custom  of  the  Saxons  in  the  days  of  Alfred,  of  the  Irish 
under  Elizabeth,  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  usages  of 
earliest  Greece,  they  offered  to  purchase  security  for  the  mur- 
derer by  a  fine  for  blood.  Two  hundred  fathom  of  the  best 
wampum  might  console  the  grief  of  the  widow.  "  You  your- 
selves," they  added,  "  are  the  cause  of  this  evil ;  you  ought 
not  craze  the  young  Indians  with  brandy.  Your  own  people, 
when  drunk,  fight  with  knives  and  do  foolish  things ;  you 
cannot  prevent  mischief  till  you  cease  to  sell  strong  drink  to 
the  Indian." 

Kieft  was  inexorable,  and  demanded  the  murderer.  In 
February,  1643,  a  small  party  of  Mohawks  from  the  vicinage  of 
Forff  Orange,  armed  with  muskets,  descended  from  their  fast- 
nesses, and  claimed  the  natives  round  Manhattan  as  tributaries. 
At  the  approach  of  the  formidable  warriors  of  a  braver  Huron 


1643-1647.    NEW  NETHERLAND   AND  NEW   SWEDEN.  506 

race,  the  more  numerous  but  cowering  Algonkins  crowded 
together  in  despair,  begging  assistance  of  the  Dutch.  Kieft, 
though  warned  that  the  ruin  would  light  upon  the  Dutch  them- 
selves, seized  the  moment  for  an  exterminating  massacre.  In 
the  stillness  of  a  dark  winter's  night,  the  soldiers  at  the  fort, 
joined  bj  freebooters  from  Dutch  privateers,  and  led  by  a 
guide  who  knew  every  by-path  and  nook  where  the  savages 
nestled,  crossed  the  Hudson,  for  the  purpose  of  destruction. 
The  unsuspecting  tribes  could  offer  little  resistance.  Nearly 
a  hundred  perished  in  the  carnage,  which  daybreak  did  not 
end. 

Proud  of  his  deed  of  treachery,  Kieft  greeted  the  return- 
ing troops  with  exultation.  But  his  joy  was  short.  ]^o  sooner 
was  it  known  that  the  midnight  attack  had  been  made  not  by 
the  Mohawks,  but  by  the  Dutch,  than  every  Algonkin  tribe 
round  Manhattan  took  up  arms  with  savage  frenzy.  From 
the  shores  of  New  Jersey  to  the  borders  of  Connecticut  not  a 
bowery  was  safe.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Anne  Hutch- 
inson perished  with  her  family.  "  Mine  eyes,"  says  a  witness, 
"  saw  the  flames  at  their  towns,  and  the  frights  and  hurries  of 
men,  women,  and  children."  The  director  was  compelled  to 
desire  peace. 

On  the  fifth  of  March,  1643,  a  convention  of  sixteen 
sachems  assembled  in  the  woods  of  E-ockaway ;  and  at  day- 
break De  Yries  and  another,  the  two  envoys  from  Manhattan, 
were  conducted  to  the  centre  of  the  little  senate.  Their  best 
orator  addressed  them,  holding  in  one  hand  a  bundle  of  small 
sticks.  "  When  you  first  arrived  on  our  shores  you  were  desti- 
tute of  food ;  we  gave  you  our  beans  and  our  corn ;  we  fed 
you  with  oysters  and  fish  ;  and  now,  for  our  recompense,  you 
murder  our  people."  Such  were  his  opening  words.  Having 
put  down  one  little  stick,  he  proceeded :  "  The  traders  whom 
your  first  ships  left  on  our  shore,  to  trafiic  till  their  return, 
were  cherished  by  us  as  the  apple  of  our  eye  :  we  gave  them 
our  daughters  for  their  wives ;  among  those  whom  you  have 
murdered  were  children  of  your  own  blood."  He  laid  down 
another  stick ;  and  many  more  remained  in  his  hand,  each  a 
memento  of  an  unsatisfied  wrong.  "  I  know  all,"  said  De 
Vries,  interrupting  him,  and  inviting  the  chiefs  to  repair  to 
VOL.  I.— 34 


506    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  xia, 

the-  fort.  The  speaking  ceased ;  the  chieftains  gave  costly 
presents  to  each  of  the  whites :  and  then  the  party  went  by 
water  to  New  Amsterdam.  There  peace  was  made ;  but  the 
presents  of  Kieft  were  those  of  a  niggard,  and  left  in  the 
Indians  rankling  memories.  A  month  later,  a  similar  covenant 
was  made  with  the  tribes  on  the  river.  But  the  young  war- 
riors among  the  red  men  were  not  pacified ;  one  had  lost  a 
father  or  a  mother ;  a  second  owed  revenge  for  the  death  of 
a  friend.  "  The  presents  we  have  received,"  said  an  older 
chief,  "  bear  no  proportion  to  our  loss ;  the  price  of  blood  has 
not  been  paid ;  "  and  war  was  renewed. 

The  commander  of  the  Dutch  troops  was  John  Underbill, 
a  fugitive  from  New  England,  a  veteran  in  Indian  warfare, 
and  one  of  the  bravest  men  of  his  day.  For  licentiousness,  he, 
in  1640,  had  been  compelled,  at  Boston,  in  a  great  assembly, 
on  lecture-day,  during  the  session  of  the  general  court,  dressed 
in  the  habit  of  a  penitent,  to  stand  upon  a  platform,  and  with 
sighs  and  tears  and  brokenness  of  heart  and  the  aspect  of 
sorrow,  to  beseech  the  compassion  of  the  congregation.  In 
the  following  year  he  removed  to  New  Netherland,  and  now, 
with  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  became  the 
protector  of  the  Dutch  settlements.  After  two  years'  war 
the  Dutch  were  weary  of  danger ;  the  Indians  tired  of  being 
hunted  like  beasts.  The  Mohawks  claimed  a  sovereignty  over 
the  Algonkins ;  their  ambassador  appeared  at  Manhattan  to 
negotiate  a  peace ;  and,  on  the  thirtieth  of  August,  1645,  in 
front  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  according  to  Indian  usage,  under 
the  open  sky,  in  the  presence  of  the  sun  and  of  the  ocean,  the 
sachems  of  New  Jersey,  of  the  River  Indians,  of  the  Mohi- 
cans, and  of  Long  Island,  acknowledging  the  chiefs  of  the 
Five  Nations  as  witnesses  and  arbitrators,  and  having  around 
them  the  director  and  council  of  New  Netherland,  -with  the 
commonalty  of  the  Dutch,  set  their  marks  to  a  solemn  treaty 
of  peace.  The  joy  of  the  colony  broke  forth  into  a  general 
thanksgiving ;  but  infamy  attached  to  the  name  of  Kieft,  the 
author  of  the  carnage ;  the  emigrants  desired  to  reject  him  as 
their  governor ;  the  West  India  company  disclaimed  his  bar- 
barous policy. 

A  better  day  dawned  on  New  Netherland  when  the  brave 


1647-1654.    NEW  NETHEKLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  507 

and  honest  Stuyvesant,  recently  the  vice-director  of  Curasao, 
wounded  in  the  West  Indies,  in  the  attack  on  St.  Martin,  a 
Boldier  of  experience,  a  scholar  of  some  learning,  was  promoted 
for  his  services,  and,  in  May,  1647,  entered  on  the  government 
of  the  province.  The  superseded  governor  embarked  for  Eu- 
rope ;  but  the  large  and  richly  laden  ship  in  which  he  sailed 
was  dashed  in  pieces  on  the  coast  of  Wales,  and  the  man  of 
blood  was  buried  beneath  the  waves. 

The  interests  of  New  Netherland  required  free  trade ;  at 
first,  the  department  of  Amsterdam,  which  had  alone  borne 
the  expense  of  the  colony,  would  tolerate  no  interlopers.  But 
the  monopoly  could  not  be  enforced;  and,  in  1648,  export 
duties  were  substituted.  Manhattan  began  to  prosper,  when 
its  merchants  obtained  freedom  to  follow  the  impulses  of  their 
own  enterprise.  The  glorious  destiny  of  the  city  was  antici- 
pated. "  When  your  commerce  becomes  established,  and  your 
ships  ride  on  every  part  of  the  ocean,  throngs  that  look  tow- 
ard you  with  eager  eyes  will  be  allured  to  embark  for  your 
island  : "  this  prophecy  was,  just  before  the  end  of  1652,  ad- 
dressed by  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam  to  the  merchants 
of  Manhattan.  The  island  of  'New  York  was  then  chiefly 
divided  among  farmers ;  the  large  forests  which  covered  the 
park  and  the  adjacent  region  long  remained  a  common  pas- 
ture, where,  for  yet  a  quarter  of  a  century,  tanners  could 
obtain  bark,  and  boys  chestnuts  ;  and  the  soil  was  so  little 
valued  that  Stuyvesant  thought  it  no  wrong  to  his  employ- 
ers to  purchase  of  them  at  a  small  price  an  extensive  bowery- 
just  beyond  the  coppices,  among  which  browsed  the  goats 
and  kine  from  the  villajge. 

A  desire  grew  up  for  municipal  liberties.  The  company 
which  effected  the  early  settlements  of  New  Netherland  in- 
troduced the  self-perpetuating  councils  of  the  Netherlands. 
The  emigrants  were  scattered  on  boweries  or  plantations ; 
and,  seeing  the  evils  of  living  widely  apart,  they  were  advised, 
in  1643  and  1646,  by  the  Dutch  authorities,  to  gather  into 
"villages,  towns,  and  hamlets,  as  the  English  were  in  the 
habit  of  doing."  In  1649,'  when  the  province  was  "  in  a  very 
poor  and  most  low  condition,"  the  commonalty  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  in  a  petition  addressed  to  the  "  states  general,"  prayed 


508    BRITISH  AMERICA  FKOM   1660   TO   1688.    paetu.;  oh.  xm. 

for  a  suitable  municipal  government.  They  referred  to  the 
case  of  New  England,  saying  "  neither  patroons,  lords,  nor 
princes  are  known  there — only  the  people.  Each  town,  no 
matter  how  small,  hath  its  own  court  and  jurisdiction,  also  a 
voice  in  the  capitol,  and  elects  its  own  officers."  But  the 
prayer  was  unheeded. 

With  its  feeble  population  New  Netherland  could  not 
protect  its  eastern  boundary.  Stuyvesant  was  instructed  to 
preserve  the  House  of  Good  Hope  at  Hartford ;  but,  while  he 
was  claiming  the  country  from  Cape  Cod  to  Cape  Henlopen, 
there  was  danger  that  the  New  England  men  would  stretch 
their  settlements  to  the  North  river,  intercept  the  navigation 
from  Fort  Orange,  and  monopolize  the  fur  trade.  The  com- 
mercial corporation  would  not  risk  a  war ;  the  expense  would 
impair  its  dividends.  "  War,"  they  declared,  "  cannot  in  any 
event  be  for  our  advantage ;  the  New  England  people  are  too 
powerful  for  us."  No  issue  was  left  but  by  negotiation; 
Stuyvesant  himself,  in  September,  1650,  repaired  as  ambassa- 
dor to  Hartford,  and  was  glad  to  conclude  a  provisional  treaty, 
which  allowed  New  Netherland  to  extend  on  Long  Island  as 
far  as  Oyster  bay,  on  the  main  to  the  neighborhood  of  Green- 
wich. This  intercolonial  treaty  was  acceptable  to  the  West 
India  company,  but  was  never  ratified  in  England ;  its  con- 
ditional approbation  by  the  states  general  is  the  only  state 
paper  in  which  the  Dutch  government  recognised  the  bound- 
aries of  the  province  on  the  Hudson.  The  West  India  com- 
pany could  never  obtain  a  national  guarantee  of  their  pos- 
sessions. 

The  war  between  the  rival  republics  in  Europe,  from  1651 
to  1654,  did  not  extend  to  America ;  in  England,  Roger  Will- 
iams delayed  an  armament  against  New  Netherland.  In  1652, 
in  New  England,  the  Narragansetts  repelled  an  offer  of  alli- 
ance with  the  Dutch.  The  peace  of  1654  brought  but  partial 
security.  In  that  year  the  salt  springs  of  Syracuse  were  dis- 
covered by  the  Jesuits,  and  in  the  two  next  the  place  was 
occupied  by  the  French. 

The  provisionary  compact  left  Connecticut  in  possession 
of  a  moiety  of  Long  Island ;  the  whole  had  often,  but  ineffect- 
ually, been  claimed   by  Lord  Stirling.      Near  the  southern 


1634-1660.    NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  509 

frontier  of  N^ew  Belgium,  on  Delaware  bay,  the  favor  of 
Strafford  had,  in  June,  1634,  obtained  for  Sir  Edward  Ploy- 
den  a  patent  for  'New  Albion.  The  county  never  existed, 
except  on  parchment.  The  lord  palatine  attempted  a  settle- 
ment ;  but,  for  want  of  a  pilot,  he  entered  the  Chesapeake ; 
and  his  people  were  absorbed  in  the  happy  province  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

The  Swedes  and  Dutch  were  left  to  contend  for  the  Dela- 
ware. In  the  vicinity  of  the  river  the  Swedish  company  was 
more  powerful  than  its  rival;  but  the  province  of  New 
Netherland  was  tenfold  more  populous  than  New  Sweden. 
From  motives  of  commercial  security,  the  Dutch,  in  1651, 
built  Fort  Casimir,  on  the  site  of  Newcastle,  within  five  miles 
of  Christiana,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Brandy  wine.  In  1654, 
aided  by  stratagem  and  superiority  in  numbers,  Rysingh,  the 
Swedish  governor,  overpowered  the  garrison.  The  aggression 
was  fatal  to  the  only  colony  which  Sweden  had  planted.  That 
kingdom  was  exhausted  by  a  long  succession  of  w^ars;  the 
statesmen  and  soldiers  whom  Gustavus  had  educated  had 
passed  from  the  public  service;  Oxenstiern,  after  adorning 
retirement  by  the  pursuits  of  philosophy,  was  no  more ;  a 
youthful  queen,  eager  for  literary  distinction  and  without 
capacity  for  government,  had  impaired  the  strength  of  the 
kingdom  by  nursing  contending  factions  and  then  capriciously 
abdicating  the  throne.  The  Dutch  company  repeatedly  com- 
manded Stuyvesant  to  "revenge  their  wrong,  to  drive  the 
Swedes  from  the  river,  or  compel  their  submission  ; "  and,  in 
September,  1655,  after  they  had  maintained  their  separate 
existence  for  a  little  more  than  seventeen  years,  the  Dutch 
governor,  collecting  a  force  of  more  than  six  hundred  men, 
sailed  into  the  Delaware.  One  fort  after  another  surrendered ; 
to  Kysingh  honorable  terms  were  conceded ;  the  colonists 
were  promised  the  quiet  possession  of  their  estates  ;  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Dutch  was  established.  Such  was  the  end 
of  New  Sweden,  the  colony  that  connects  our  country  with 
Gustavus  Adolphus  and  the  nations  that  dwell  on  the  gulf  of 
Bothnia.  The  descendants  of  the  colonists,  in  the  course  of 
generations,  widely  scattered  and  blended  with  emigrants  of 
other  lineage,  constituted,  perhaps,  more  than  one  part  in  two 


510    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  xni. 

hundred  of  the  population  of  our  country  in  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  At  the  surrender,  they  did  not  much 
exceed  seven  hundred  souls.  As  Protestants,  they  shared  the 
religious  impulse  of  the  age.  They  reverenced  the  bonds  of 
family  and  the  purity  of  morals ;  their  children,  under  every 
disadvantage  of  want  of  teachers  and  of  Swedish  books,  were 
well  instructed.  With  the  natives  they  preserved  peace.  The 
love  for  their  mother  country,  and  an  abiding  sentiment  of 
loyalty  toward  its  sovereign,  continued  to  distinguish  them ; 
at  Stockholm,  they  remained  for  a  century  the  objects  of  a 
disinterested  and  generous  regard ;  in  the  I^s^ew  World,  a  part 
of  their  descendants  still  preserve  their  altar  and  their  dwell- 
ings round  the  graves  of  their  fathers. 

The  West  India  company  desiring  an  ally  on  its  southern 
frontier,  the  city  of  Amsterdam  became,  by  purchase,  in  1656, 
the  proprietary  of  Delaware,  from  the  Brandy  wine  to  Bombay 
Hook ;  and  afterward,  under  cessions  from  the  natives,  ex- 
tended its  jurisdiction  to  Cape  Henlopen.  But  the  noble  and 
right  honorable  lords,  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  insti- 
tuted a  paralyzing  commercial  monopoly,  and  required  of  the 
colonists  absolute  obedience.  Emigrants,  almost  as  they  landed, 
and  even  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  fled  from  the  dominion  of  a 
city  to  the  liberties  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  attempt 
to  elope  was  punishable  by  death,  yet  scarce  thirty  families 
remained.  In  1663,  the  West  India  company  ceded  to  Amster- 
dam all  that  remained  of  its  claims  on  Delaware  river. 

In  September,  1655,  during  the  attack  of  Stuyvesant  on 
'New  Sweden,  the  Algonkins  near  Manhattan,  in  sixty-four 
vcanoes,  appeared  before  New  Amsterdam,  and  ravaged  the 
adjacent  country.  His  return  restored  confidence ;  the  cap- 
tives were  ransomed  ;  industry  repaired  its  losses ;  New  E^eth- 
erland  consoled  the  Dutch  for  the  loss  of  Brazil.  They  were 
proud  of  its  extent,  from  New  England  to  Maryland,  from 
the  sea  to  the  great  river  of  Canada,  and  the  north-western 
wilderness.  They  sounded  the  channel  of  the  Delaware, 
which  was  no  longer  shared  with  the  Swedes ;  they  counted 
with  delight  its  many  runs  of  water  on  which  the  beavers 
built  their  villages;  and  great  travellers,  as  they  ascended 
the  deep  stream,  declared  it  one  of  the  noblest  rivers  in  the 


1660.  NEW  NETHERLAND  AND  NEW  SWEDEN.  511 

world,  with   banks   more   inviting   than    the    lands   on   the 
Amazon. 

Manhattan  was  already  the  chosen  abode  of  merchants ; 
and  the  policy  of  the  government  invited  them  by  its  good- 
will. If  Stuyvesant  sometimes  displayed  the  rash  despotism 
of  a  soldier,  he  was  sure  to  be  reproved  by  his  employers. 
Did  he  change  the  rate  of  duties  arbitrarily,  the  directors, 
sensitive  to  commercial  honor,  charged  him  "  to  keep  every 
contract  inviolate."  Did  he  tamper  with  the  currency  by 
raising  the  normal  value  of  foreign  coin,  the  measure  was 
rebuked  as  dishonest.  Did  he  attempt  to  fix  the  price  of 
labor  by  arbitrary  rules,  this  also  was  condemned  as  unwise 
and  impracticable.  Did  he  interfere  with  the  merchants  by 
inspecting  their  accounts,  the  deed  was  censured  as  without 
precedent  "  in  Christendom ; "  and  he  was  ordered  to  "  treat 
the  merchants  with  kindness,  lest  they  return,  and  the  country 
be  depopulated."  Did  his  zeal  for  Calvinism  lead  him  to 
persecute  Lutherans,  he  was  chid  for  his  bigotry.  Did  he, 
from  hatred  of  "  the  abominable  sect  of  Quakers,"  imprison 
and  afterward  exile  the  blameless  Bowne,  "  let  every  peaceful 
citizen,"  wrote  the  directors,  "  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience  ; 
this  maxim  has  made  our  city  the  asylum  for  fugitives  from 
every  land ;  tread  in  its  steps,  and  you  shall  be  blessed." 


512    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.    pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  xiv. 


CHAPTEK  XIY. 

NEW  NETHERLAND,  NEW  JERSEY,  AND  NEW  YORK. 

Private  worship  was,  therefore,  allowed  to  every  religion. 
The  Jews  found  a  home,  liberty,  and  a  burial-place  on  the 
island  of  Manhattan.  The  coiners  from  Low  Countries  were 
themselves  of  the  most  various  lineage ;  for  Holland  had  long 
been  the  gathering-place  of  the  persecuted  and  the  wronged 
of  many  nations.  New  York  was  always  a  city  of  the  world. 
Its  settlers  were  relics  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  Reformation, 
chosen  chiefly  from  the  Belgic  provinces  and  England,  from 
France,  Germany,  and  Switzerland.  A  few  of  them  were  the 
offspring  of  those  early  inquirers  who  listened  to  Huss  in  the 
heart  of  Bohemia.  The  hurricane  of  persecution,  which  was 
to  have  swept  Protestantism  from  the  earth,  did  not  spare 
the  descendants  of  the  mediaeval  Puritans  who  escaped  from 
bloody  conflicts  in  the  south  of  France  to  Piedmont  and  the 
Italian  Alps.  The  city  of  Amsterdam,  in  1656,  offered  the 
fugitive  Waldenses  a  free  passage  to  America,  and  New 
Netherland  welcomed  those  who  came.  When  the  Protestant 
churches  in  Rochelle  were  razed,  their  members  were  gladly 
received ;  and  French  Protestants  so  abounded  that  public 
documents  were  sometimes  issued  in  French  as  well  as  in 
Dutch  and  English. 

In  Holland  "  population  was  known  to  be  the  bulwark  of 
every  state;"  the  government  of  New  Netherland  asked  for 
'*  farmers  and  laborers,  foreigners  and  exiles,  men  inured  to 
toil  and  penury."  A  free  passage  was  offered  to  mechanics, 
and  troops  of  orphans  were  sent  over.  From  the  colony  a 
trade  in  lumber  grew  up.  The  whale  was  pursued  off  the 
coast ;  the  vine,  the  mulberry,  planted ;  flocks  of  sheep  as 


1626-1653.  'NEW   NETHERLAND.  513 

well  as  cattle  were  multiplied ;  and  tile,  long  imported  from 
Holland,  was  manufactured  near  Fort  Orange.  "  This  hap- 
pily situated  province,"  said  its  inhabitants,  "  may  become  the 
granary  of  our  fatherland ;  should  our  Netherlands  be  wasted 
by  grievous  wars,  it  will  offer  our  countrymen  a  safe  retreat ; 
by  God's  blessing,  we  shall  in  a  few  years  become  a  mighty 
people." 

The  African  had  his  portion  on  the  Hudson.  The  West 
India  company,  which  sometimes  transported  captive  red  men 
to  the  West  Indies,  having  large  establishments  on  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  in  1626  introduced  Aegroes  into  Manhattan,  and 
continued  the  trade  in  them.  The  city  of  Amsterdam  owned 
shares  in  a  slave-ship.  That  New  York  was  not  a  slave  state 
like  Carolina  is  due  to  climate,  and  not  to  the  superior  hu- 
manity of  its  founders.  Stuyvesant  was  instructed  to  use 
every  exertion  to  promote  the  sale  of  negroes.  They  were 
imported  sometimes  by  way  of  the  West  Indies,  often  directly 
from  Guinea,  and  were  sold  at  public  auction  to  the  highest 
bidder.  The  average  price  was  less  than  one  hundred  and 
forty  dollars.  The  enfranchised  negro  might  become  a  free- 
holder. 

The  large  emigrations  from  Connecticut  engrafted  on 
New  Netherland  the  Puritan  idea  of  popular  freedom.  There 
were  so  many  English  at  Manhattan  as  to  require  an  English 
secretary,  preachers  who  could  speak  in  English  as  well  as 
in  Dutch,  and  a  publication  of  civil  ordinances  in  English. 
New  England  men  planted  on  Long  Island  towns  and  New 
England  liberties  in  a  congregational  way,  with  the  consent 
and  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Dutch. 

In  the  fatherland,  the  power  of  the  people  was  unknown ; 
in  New  Netherland,  the  necessities  of  the  colony  had  given 
it  a  twilight  existence ;  and,  in  1642,  twelve,  then  perhaps 
eight  delegates  from  the  Dutch  towns,  had  mitigated  the 
arbitrary  authority  of  Kieft.  There  was  no  distinct  concession 
of  legislative  power  to  the  people ;  but,  without  a  teacher,  they 
became  convinced  of  the  right  of  resistance.  The  brewers 
refused  to  pay  an  arbitrary  excise  :  "  Were  we  to  yield,"  said 
they,  in  1644,  "  we  should  offend  the  eight  men,  and  the  whole 
commonalty."     The  commander  of  Rensselaer  Stein,  in  1644, 


514    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   16B8.     pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  xiv. 

raised  a  battery,  that  "the  canker  of  freemen"  might  not 
enter  the  manor;  but  the  patrons  joined  the  free  boors  in 
resisting  arbitrary  taxation.  As  a  compromise,  in  1647,  it 
was  proposed  that,  from  a  double  nomination  by  the  villages, 
the  governor  should  appoint  tribunes,  to  act  as  magistrates  in 
trivial  cases,  and,  as  agents  for  the  towns,  to  give  their  opinion 
whenever  they  should  be  consulted.  Town-meetings  were 
prohibited. 

Discontents  increased.  Yan  der  Donck  and  others  were 
charged  with  leaving  nothing  untried  to  abjure  what  they 
called  the  galling  yoke  of  an  arbitrary  government.  In  1650, 
a  commission  repaired  to  Holland  for  redress ;  as  freeholders, 
they  claimed  the  liberties  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  agricult- 
ure ;  as  merchants,  they  protested  against  the  intolerable  bur- 
den of  the  customs ;  and,  when  redress  was  refused,  tyranny 
was  followed  by  its  usual  consequence,  clandestine  associations 
against  oppression.  The  excess  of  complaint  obtained  for  'New 
Amsterdam,  in  1652,  a  court  of  justice  like  that  of  the  metrop- 
olis ;  but  the  municipal  liberties  included  no  political  franchise ; 
the  sheriff  was  appointed  by  the  governor ;  the  two  burgomas- 
ters and  five  schepens  made  a  double  nomination  of  their  own 
successors,  from  which  '*  the  valiant  director  himself  elected 
the  board."  The  city  had  privileges,  not  the  citizens.  The 
province  gained  only  the  municipal  liberties,  on  which  rested 
the  commercial  aristocracy  of  Holland.  Citizenship  was  a 
commercial  privilege,  and  not  a  political  enfranchisement. 

The  persevering  restlessness  of  the  people  led  to  a  general 
assembly  of  two  deputies  from  each  village  in  New  I^ether- 
land ;  an  assembly  which  Stuyvesant  was  unwilling  to  sanc- 
tion, and  could  not  prevent.  As  in  Massachusetts,  this  first 
convention,  of  December,  1653,  sprung  from  the  will  of  the 
people ;  and  it  claimed  the  right  of  deliberating  on  the  civil 
condition  of  the  country. 

"  The  states  general  of  the  United  Provinces,"  such  was 
the  remonstrance  and  petition,  drafted  by  George  Baxter,  and 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention,  "  are  our  liege  lords ; 
we  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  United  Provinces;  and  our 
rights  and  privileges  ought  to  be  in  harmony  with  those  of 
the  fatherland,  for  we  are  a  member  of  the  state,  and  not  a 


1653-1663.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  515 

subjugated  people.  We,  who  have  come  together  from  va- 
rious parts  of  the  world  and  are  a  blended  community  of 
various  lineage ;  we,  who  have  at  our  own  expense  exchanged 
our  native  lands  for  the  protection  of  the  United  Provinces  ; 
we,  who  have  transformed  the  wilderness  into  fruitful  farms — 
demand  that  no  new  laws  shall  be  enacted  but  with  consent  of 
the  people,  that  none  shall  be  appointed  to  office  but  with  the 
approbation  of  the  people,  that  obscure  and  obsolete  laws  shall 
never  be  revived." 

Stuy vesant  answered :  "  Will  you  set  your  names  to  the 
visionary  notions  of  an  Englishman  ?  Is  there  no  one  of  the 
Netherlands'  nation  able  to  draft  your  petition  ?  And  your 
prayer  is  so  extravagant,  you  might  as  well  claim  to  send  dele- 
gates to  the  assembly  of  their  high  mightinesses  themselves. 

1.  "  Laws  will  be  made  by  the  director  and  council.  Evil 
manners  produce  good  laws  for  their  restraint ;  and  therefore 
the  laws  of  New  Netherland  are  good. 

2.  "  Shall  the  people  elect  their  own  officers  ?  If  this  rule 
become  our  cynosure,  and  the  election  of  magistrates  be  left 
to  the  rabble,  every  man  will  vote  for  one  of  his  own  stamp. 
The  thief  will  vote  for  a  thief ;  the  smuggler  for  a  smuggler ; 
and  fraud  and  vice  will  become  privileged. 

3.  "  The  old  laws  remain  in  force ;  directors  will  never 
make  themselves  responsible  to  subjects." 

The  delegates,  in  their  rejoinder,  appealed  to  their  inalien- 
able rights.  "We  do  but  design  the  general  good  of  the 
country  and  the  maintenance  of  freedom ;  nature  permits  all 
men  to  constitute  society,  'and  assemble  for  the  protection  of 
liberty  and  property."  At  this,  Stuyvesant  dissolved  the  as- 
sembly, commanding  its  members  to  separate  on  pain  of  arbi- 
trary punishment.  "  We  derive  our  authority  from  God  and 
the  West  India  company,  not  from  the  pleasure  of  a  few 
ignorant  subjects  ; "  was  his  farewell  message  to  them. 

The  West  India  company  declared  this  resistance  to  arbi- 
trary taxation  to  be  "  contrary  to  the  maxims  of  every  enlight- 
ened government."  "  We  approve  the  taxes  you  propose  " — 
thus  they  wrote  to  Stuyvesant ;  "  have  no  regard  to  the  consent 
of  the  people ; "  "  let  them  indulge  no  longer  the  visionary 
dream  that  taxes  can  be  imposed  only  with  their  consent." 


516     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.    paetii.;  ch.  xit 

But  the  people  continued  to  indulge  the  dream  ;  taxes  could 
not  be  collected ;  and  the  colonists  listened  with  complacency 
to  the  hope  of  obtaining  English  liberties  by  submitting  to 
English  jurisdiction. 

Cromwell  had  planned  the  conquest  of  'New  l^etherland ; 
in  the  days  of  his  son  the  design  was  revived ;  on  the  restora- 
tion of  Charles  II.,  the  influences  which  framed  the  new  navi- 
gation act  would  not  endure  a  foreign  jurisdiction  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  river. 

In  the  negotiations  of  1659  with  the  agent  of  Lord  Balti- 
more, the  envoy  of  New  Netherland  had  firmly  maintained 
the  right  of  the  Dutch  to  the  southern  bank  of  the  Delaware, 
pleading  purchase  and  colonization  before  the  Maryland  pat- 
ent had  been  granted.  The  facts  were  conceded;  but,  in 
the  pride  of  strength,  it  was  answered  that  the  same  plea 
had  not  availed  Clayborne,  and  should  not  avail  the  Dutch. 
On  the  restoration.  Lord  Baltimore  renewed  his  claims  to  the 
country  from  JS^ewcastle  to  Cape  Henlopen  by  his  agents  in 
Amsterdam  and  in  America,  and  they  were  presented  to  the 
states  general  of  the  United  Provinces.  The  board  of  nine- 
teen of  the  "West  India  company  resolved  "to  defend  its 
possessions,  even  to  the  spilling  of  blood."  Beekman,  the 
Dutch  lieutenant-governor  on  the  Delaware,  was  faithful  to 
his  trust ;  the  jurisdiction  of  his  country  was  maintained. 
When  young  Baltimore,  with  his  train,  appeared  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Brandywine,  he  was  honored  as  a  guest ;  but  the  pre- 
tensions of  his  father  were  triumphantly  resisted.  The  Dutch 
and  Swedes  and  Finns  kept  the  country  safely  for  William 
Penn. 

The  people  of  Connecticut  not  only  increased  their  pre- 
tensions on  Long  Island,  but,  regardless  of  the  pro  visionary 
treaty,  claimed  West  Chester,  and  were  steadily  advancing 
toward  the  Hudson.  To  stay  these  encroachments,  Stuy- 
vesant,  in  1663,  repaired  to  Boston,  and  laid  his  complaints 
before  the  convention  of  the  united  colonies.  His  voyage 
was  a  confession  of  weakness;  Massachusetts  maintained  a 
neutrality,  and  Connecticut  demanded  delay.  An  embassy 
to  Hartford  renewed  the  language  of  remonstrance  with  no 
better  success.     Did  the  Dutch  assert  their  original  grant 


i 


1668-1664.  NEW  NETHERLAND.  517 

from  the  states  general,  it  was  interpreted  as  conveying  no 
more  than  a  commercial  privilege.  Did  they  plead  discovery, 
purchase  from  the  natives,  and  long  possession,  it  was  replied 
that  Connecticut,  by  its  charter,  extended  to  the  Pacific. 
"  Where,  then,"  demanded  the  Dutch  negotiators,  "  where 
is  New  Netherland?"  And  the  agents  of  Connecticut,  with 
provoking  indifference,  replied :  "  We  do  not  know." 

These  unavailing  discussions  were  conducted  during  the 
horrors  of  a  half-year's  war  with  the  savages  round  Esopus. 
In  June,  the  rising  village  on  the  banks  of  that  stream  was 
laid  waste,  many  of  its  inhabitants  murdered  or  made  captive, 
and  it  was  only  on  the  approach  of  winter  that  an  armistice 
restored  tranquillity.  "The  Dutch,"  said  the  faithful  war- 
riors of  the  Five  N^ations,  "  are  our  brethren.  With  them  we 
keep  but  one  council  fire ;  we  are  united  by  a  covenant  chain." 
Beyond  these,  they  had  no  friends. 

The  province  had  no  popular  freedom,  and  therefore  had 
no  public  spirit.  In  'New  England  there  were  no  poor ;  in 
New  Netherland  the  poor  were  so  numerous  it  was  difiScult 
to  provide  for  their  relief.  The  one  easily  supported  schools 
everywhere,  and  Latin  schools  in  the  larger  villages ;  in  the 
other,  a  Latin  school  lingered  with  diflSculty  through  two 
years,  and  was  discontinued.  In  the  one,  the  people,  in  the 
hour  of  danger,  defended  themselves  ;  in  the  other,  the  burden 
of  protection  was  thrown  upon  the  company,  which  claimed 
to  be  the  absolute  sovereign. 

In  November,  1663,  the  necessities  of  the  times  wrung 
from  Stuyvesant  the  concession  of  an  assembly ;  the  delegates 
of  the  villages  made  their  appeal  to  the  states  general  and  to 
the  West  India  company  for  defence.  But  the  states  general 
had,  as  it  were,  invited  aggi'ession  by  abstaining  from  every 
public  act  which  should  pledge  their  honor  to  the  defence  of 
the  province ;  and  the  West  India  company  would  not  risk  its 
funds.  A  more  full  diet  was  held  in  April,  1664.  Rumors  of 
an  intended  invasion  from  England  had  reached  the  colony ; 
and  the  popular  representatives,  having  remonstrated  against 
the  want  of  all  means  of  security,  and  foreseeing  the  necessity 
of  submitting  to  the  English,  demanded  plainly  of  Stuyvesant : 
"If  you  cannot  shield  us,  to  whom  shall  we  turn?"     The 


518     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii. ;  oh.  xiv. 

governor,  faithful  to  his  trust,  proposed,  but  in  vain,  the  enlist- 
ment "  of  every  third  man,  as  had  more  than  once  been  done 
in  the  fatherland."  The  established  government  could  not 
but  fall  into  contempt.  In  vain  was  the  libeller  of  the  magis- 
trates fastened  to  a  stake,  with  a  bridle  in  his  mouth.  Stuj- 
vesant  confessed  his  fears  to  his  employers :  "  To  ask  aid  of 
the  English  villages  would  be  inviting  the  Trojan  horse  within 
our  walls ; "  "  the  company  is  cursed  and  scolded ;  the  inhab- 
itants declare  that  the  Dutch  have  never  had  a  right  to  the 
country."  Half  Long  Island  had  revolted;  the  settlements 
on  the  Esopus  wavered ;  the  Connecticut  men  had  purchased 
of  the  Indians  all  the  seaboard  as  far  as  the  IS^orth  river.  Yet 
no  cause  for  war  on  the  United  Provinces  by  England  existed 
except  English  envy  of  their  commerce. 

In  confidence  of  peace,  the  countrymen  of  Grotius  were 
planning  liberal  councils  ;  at  home,  they  designed  concessions 
to  free  trade ;  in  the  Mediterranean,  to  suppress  the  piracies 
of  the  Barbary  states.  At  that  time  the  English  were  en- 
gaging in  an  expedition  against  the  Dutch  possessions  on  the 
coast  of  Guinea ;  and  the  king,  with  equal  indifference  to  the 
chartered  rights  of  Connecticut  and  the  claims  of  the  Nether- 
lands, "by  the  most  despotic  instrument  recorded  in  the 
colonial  archives  of  England,"  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  1664, 
granted  to  the  duke  of  York  not  only  the  country  from  the 
Kennebec  to  the  St.  Croix,  but  the  territory  from  the  Con- 
necticut river  to  the  shores  of  the  Delaware.  Under  the 
conduct  of  Kichard  Nicolls,  groom  of  the  bed-chamber  to 
the  duke  of  York,  the  English  squadron,  which  carried  the 
commissioners  for  New  England  to  Boston,  having  demanded 
recruits  in  Massachusetts,  and  received  on  board  the  governor 
of  Connecticut,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  August,  1664,  cast 
anchor  in  Gravesend  bay.  Soldiers  from  New  England 
pitched  their  camp  near  Breukelen  ferry. 

In  New  Amsterdam,  Stuyvesant,  faithful  to  his  employers, 
struggled  to  maintain  their  interests ;  the  municipality,  con- 
scious that  the  town  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  English  fleet, 
desired  to  avoid  bloodshed  by  a  surrender.  A  joint  committee 
from  the  governor  and  the  city  having  demanded  of  Nicolls 
the  cause  of  his  presence,  he  replied  by  requiring  of  Stuy- 


1664-1665.  NEW   NETHERLAND.  619 

vesant  the  immediate  acknowledgment  of  English  sovereignty, 
with  the  condition  of  security  to  the  inhabitants  in  life,  lib- 
erty, and  property.  At  the  same  time,  Winthrop,  of  Connec- 
ticut, whose  love  of  peace  and  candid  affection  for  the  Dutch 
nation  had  been  acknowledged  by  the  West  India  company, 
advised  his  personal  friends  to  offer  no  resistance.  "  The 
surrender,"  Stuyvesant  nobly  answered,  '^  would  be  reproved 
in  the  fatherland."  The  burgomasters,  unable  to  obtain  a 
copy  of  the  letter  from  Kicolls,  summoned  not  a  town-meet- 
ing— that  had  been  inconsistent  with  the  mariners  of  the 
Dutch — but  the  principal  inhabitants  to  the  public  hall,  where 
it  was  resolved  that  the  community  ought  to  know  all  that 
related  to  its  welfare.  On  a  more  urgent  demand  for  the 
letter  from  the  English  commander,  Stuyvesant  angrily  tore 
it  in  pieces ;  and  the  burgomasters,  instead  of  resisting  the 
invasion,  spent  their  time  in  framing  a  protest  against  the 
governor.  On  the  third  of  September,  a  new  deputation  re- 
paired to  the  fleet ;  but  Nicolls  declined  discussion.  "  When 
may  we  visit  you  again  ?  "  asked  the  commissioners.  "  On 
Thursday,"  replied  ]S"icolls ;  "for  to-morrow  I  will  speak  with 
you  at  Manhattan."  "Friends,"  it  was  smoothly  answered, 
"  are  very  welcome  there."  "  Eaise  the  white  flag  of  peace," 
said  the  English  commander,  "  for  I  shall  come  with  ships-of- 
war  and  soldiers."  The  commissioners  returned  to  advocate 
the  capitulation,  which  was  quietly  effected  in  the  following 
days.  The  aristocratic  liberties  of  Holland  yielded  to  the 
hope  of  popular  liberties  like  those  of  New  England. 

The  articles  of  surrender,  framed  under  the  auspices  of 
the  municipal  authority  by  the  mediation  of  the  younger 
Winthrop  and  Pynchon,  accepted  by  the  magistrates  and  other 
inhabitants  assembled  in  the  town-hall,  and  not  ratified  by 
Stuyvesant  till  the  eighth  of  September,  after  the  surrender 
had  virtually  been  made,  promised  security  to  the  customs, 
the  religion,  the  municipal  institutions,  the  possessions  of  the 
Dutch.  The  enforcement  of  the  navigation  act  was  delayed 
for  six  months.  During  that  period  direct  intercourse  with 
Holland  remained  free.  The  towns  were  to  choose  their  own 
magistrates,  and  Manhattan,  now  first  known  as  Kew  York^ 
to  elect  its  deputies,  with  free  voices  in  all  public  affairs. 


520    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.    paeth.;  oh.  xiv. 

In  a  few  days  Fort  Orange,  then  named  Albany,  from  the 
Scottish  title  of  the  duke  of  York,  quietly  surrendered ;  and 
the  league  with  the  Five  Nations  was  renewed.  Early  in 
October  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  on  the  Delaware  capitulated  ; 
and,  for  the  first  time,  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  old  thirteen 
states  was  in  possession  of  England.  Our  country  obtained 
geographical  unity. 

On  the  twenty- third  and  twenty-fourth  of  the  previous 
June  the  duke  of  York  had  assigned  to  Lord  Berkeley  and 
Sir  George  Carteret,  both  proprietaries  of  Carolina,  the  land 
between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  The  dismember- 
ment of  New  Netherland  ensued  on  its  surrender.  In  honor 
of  Carteret,  the  severed  territory,  with  nearly  the  same  bounds 
as  at  present,  except  on  the  north,  received  the  name  of  New 
Jersey.  If  to  fix  boundaries  and  grant  the  soil  could  con- 
stitute a  state,  the  duke  of  York  gave  political  existence  to  a 
commonwealth  ;  its  character  was  moulded  by  New  England 
Puritans,  English  Quakers,  and  dissenters  from  Scotland. 

In  February,  1665,  the  royalists,  who  were  become  lords 
of  the  soil,  sought  to  foster  their  province  by  most  liberal 
concessions.  Security  of  persons  and  property  under  laws 
to  be  made  by  an  assembly  composed  of  the  governor  and 
council,  and  at  least  an  equal  number  of  representatives  of 
the  people ;  freedom  from  taxation  except  by  the  colonial 
assembly ;  a  combined  opposition  of  the  people  and  the  pro- 
prietaries to  any  arbitrary  impositions  from  England ;  free- 
dom of  judgment,  conscience,  and  worship  to  every  peaceful 
citizen — these  were  the  allurements  to  New  Jersey.  To  the 
proprietaries  were  reserved  a  veto  on  provincial  enactments, 
the  appointment  of  judicial  ofiicers,  and  the  executive  au- 
thority. Lands  were  promised  at  a  moderate  quit-rent,  not 
to  be  collected  till  1670.  The  duke  of  York,  now  president 
of  the  African  company,  was  the  patron  of  the  slave-trade ; 
the  proprietaries  offered  a  bounty  of  seventy-five  acres  for  the 
importation  of  each  able  emigrant,  and,  as  in  Carolina,  the 
concession  was  interpreted  to  include  the  negro  slave.  That 
the  tenure  of  estates  might  rest  on  equity,  the  Indian  title  to 
lands  was  in  all  cases  to  be  quieted. 

The  portion  of  New  Netherland  which  thus  gained  popular 


1664-1670.   ■  NEW  JERSEY.  521 

freedom  was  at  that  time  almost  a  wilderness.  The  first  occu- 
pation of  Fort  Nassau  in  Gloucester,  and  the  grants  to  Godjn 
and  Blomraaert,  above  Cape  May,  had  been  of  so  little  avail 
that,  in  1634,  not  a  single  white  man  dwelt  within  the  bay  of 
the  Delaware.  The  pioneers  of  Sir  Edmund  Ployden  and  the 
restless  emigrants  from  New  Haven  had  each  been  unsuccess- 
ful. Here  and  there,  in  the  counties  of  Gloucester  and  Bur- 
lington, a  Swedish  farmer  may  have  preserved  his  dwelling 
on  the  Jersey  side  of  the  river;  and,  before  1664,  perhaps 
three  Dutch  families  were  established  about  Burlington ;  but 
as  yet  West  New  Jersey  had  not  a  hamlet.  In  East  Jersey, 
of  which  the  hills  and  the  soil  had  been  trodden  by  the  mari- 
ners of  Hudson,  a  trading  station  seems,  in  1618,  to  have 
been  occupied  at  Bergen.  In  December,  1651,  Augustine 
Herman  purchased,  but  hardly  took  possession  of,  the  land 
that  stretched  from  Newark  bay  to  the  west  of  Elizabethtown ; 
while,  in  January,  1658,  other  purchasers  obtained  the  large 
grant  called  Bergen,  where  the  early  station  became  a  per- 
manent settlement.  Before  the  end  of  1664,  a  few  families 
of  Quakers  appear  to  have  found  a  refuge  south  of  Raritan 
bay. 

More  than  a  year  earKer,  New  England  Puritans,  sojourners 
on  Long  Island,  solicited  of  the  Dutch,  and,  as  the  records 
prove,  obtained  leave  to  establish  on  the  banks  of  the  Raritan 
and  the  Minisink  their  cherished  institutions,  and  even  their 
criminal  jurisprudence.  Soon  after  the  surrender,  a  similar 
petition  was,  in  1664,  renewed  to  the  representative  of  the 
duke  of  York;  and,  as  the  parties,  heedless  of  the  former 
grant  to  Herman,  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  Indians  a 
deed  of  an  extensive  territory  on  Newark  bay,  NicoUs,  igno- 
rant as  yet  of  the  transfer  of  New  Jersey  and  having  already 
granted  land  on  Hackensack  neck,  encouraged  emigration  by 
ratifying  the  sale.  The  tract  afterward  became  known  as 
"  the  Elizabethtown  purchase,"  and  led  to  abundant  litigation. 
In  April,  1665,  a  further  patent  was  issued,  under  the  same 
authority,  to  William  Goulding  and  others,  for  the  region  ex- 
tending from  Sandy  Hook  to  the  mouth  of  the  Raritan.  For 
a  few  months  East  New  Jersey  bore  the  name  of  Albania. 
Nicolls  could   boast   that  "on  the  new  purchases  from  the 

VOL.  I. — 35 


522    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paetii.;  oh.  xiv. 

Indians  three  towns  were  beginning ; "  and,  under  grants 
from  the  Dutch  and  from  the  governor  of  Xew  York,  the 
coast  from  the  old  settlement  of  Bergen  to  Sandy  Hook, 
along  Newark  bay,  at  Middletown,  at  Shrewsbury,  was  enliv- 
ened by  humble  plantations,  that  were  soon  to  constitute  a 
semicircle  of  villages. 

In  August,  1665,  Philip  Carteret  appeared  among  the 
tenants  of  the  scattered  cabins,  and  was  quietly  received  as 
the  governor  appointed  for  the  colony  by  its  proprietaries. 
In  vain  did  Nicolls  protest  against  the  division  of  his  prov- 
ince, and  struggle  to  secure  for  his  patron  the  territory  which 
had  been  released  in  ignorance.  The  incipient  people  had  no 
motive  to  second  his  complaints.  A  cluster  of  four  houses, 
which,  in  honor  of  the  kind-hearted  Lady  Carteret,  was  called 
Elizabethtown,  rose  into  dignity  as  the  capital  of  the  prov- 
ince. 

To  New  England,  messengers  were  despatched  to  publish 
the  tidings  that  Puritan  liberties  were  warranted  a  shelter  on 
the  Karitan.  Immediately,  in  1666,  an  association  of  church 
members  from  the  New  Haven  colony  sailed  into  the  Passaic, 
and,  at  the  request  of  the  governor,  holding  a  council  with  the 
Hackensack  tribe,  themselves  extinguished  the  Indian  title  to 
Newark.  "  With  one  heart,  they  resolved  to  carry  on  their 
spiritual  and  town  affairs  according  to  godly  government ; " 
to  be  ruled  under  their  old  laws  by  officers  chosen  from  among 
themselves ;  and  when,  in  May,  1668,  a  colonial  legislative  as- 
sembly was  for  the  first  time  convened  at  Elizabethtown,  the 
influence  of  Puritans  transferred  the  chief  features  of  the  New 
England  codes  to  the  statute-book  of  New  Jersey. 

The  land  was  accessible  and  productive;  the  temperate 
climate  delighted  by  its  salubrity ;  there  was  little  danger  from 
ihi  neighboring  Indians,  whose  strength  had  been  broken  by 
long  hostilities  with  the  Dutch ;  the  Five  Nations  guarded 
the  approaches  from  the  interior ;  and  the  vicinity  of  older 
settlements  saved  the  emigrants  from  the  distresses  of  a  first 
adventure  in  the  wilderness.  Everything  was  of  good  augury, 
till,  in  1670,  the  quit-rents  of  a  halfpenny  an  acre  were  seri- 
ously spoken  of.  But,  on  the  subject  of  real  estate  in  the 
New  World,  the  Puritans  differed  from  the  lawyers  widely, 


1664-1670.  NEW  JERSEY.  523 

asserting  that  the  heathen,  as  lineal  descendants  of  Noah,  had 
a  rightful  claim  to  their  lands.  The  Indian  deeds,  executed 
partly  with  the  approbation  of  IS'icolls,  partly  with  the  consent 
of  Carteret  himself,  were  therefore  pleaded  as  superior  to 
proprietary  grants;  the  payment  of  quit-rents  was  refused; 
disputes  were  followed  by  confusion ;  and,  in  May,  1672,  the 
disaffected  colonists,  obeying  the  impulse  of  independence, 
sent  deputies  to  a  constituent  assembly  at  Elizabethtown. 
By  that  body  Philip  Carteret  was  displaced,  and  his  office 
transferred  to  the  young  and  frivolous  James  Carteret,  a  natu- 
ral son  of  Sir  George.  The  proprietary  officers  could  make 
no  resistance.  William  Pardon,  who  withheld  the  records, 
found  safety  only  in  flight.  Following  the  advice  of  the 
council,  after  appointing  John  Berry  as  his  deputy,  Philip 
Carteret  repaired  to  England,  in  search  of  new  authority, 
while  the  colonists  remained  in  the  undisturbed  possession  of 
their  farms. 

The  liberties  of  New  Jersey  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
Delaware ;  the  settlements  in  New  Netherland,  on  the  op- 
posite bank,  consisting  chiefly  of  groups  of  Dutch  round 
Lewistown  and  Newcastle,  and  Swedes  and  Finns  at  Chris- 
tiana Creek,  at  Chester,  and  near  what  is  now  Philadelphia, 
were  retained  as  a  dependency  of  New  York.  The  claim  of 
Lord  Baltimore  was  denied  with  pertinacity.  In  1672,  the 
people  of  Maryland,  desiring  to  stretch  the  boundary  of  their 
province  to  the  bay,  invaded  Lewistown  with  an  armed  force. 
The  country  was  immediately  reclaimed,  as  belonging  by  con- 
quest to  the  duke  of  York ;  and  it  still  escaped  the  imminent 
peril  of  being  absorbed  in  Maryland. 

In  respect  to  civil  privileges,  Delaware  shared  the  fortunes 
of  New  York ;  and  for  that  province  the  establishment  of  Eng- 
lish jurisdiction  was  not  followed  by  the  hoped  for  conces- 
sions. Connecticut,  in  1664,  surrendering  all  claims  to  Long 
Island,  obtained  a  favorable  boundary  on  the  main.  The  city 
of  New  York  was  incorporated,  with  a  mayor  who  was  to  be 
named  by  the  governor ;  the  municipal  Kberties  of  Albany 
were  not  impaired;  but  the  province  had  no  political  fran- 
chises, and  therefore  no  political  unity.  In  the  governor  and 
his  subservient  council  were  vested  the  executive  and  the 


524    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xnr. 

highest  judicial  powers ;  with  the  court  of  assizes,  composed  of 
justices  of  his  own  appointment,  holding  office  at  his  will,  he 
exercised  supreme  legislative  power,  promulgated  a  code  of 
laws,  and  modified  or  repealed  them  at  pleasure.  Ko  popular 
representation,  no  true  English  Hbertj,  was  sanctioned.  Once, 
indeed,  in  March,  1665,  a  convention  was  held  at  Hempstead, 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  respective  limits  of  the 
towns  on  Long  Island.  The  rate  for  public  charges  was  there 
perhaps  agreed  upon  ;  and  the  deputies  were  induced  to  sign 
an  extravagantly  loyal  address  to  the  duke  of  York.  But 
they  were  scorned  by  their  constituents  for  their  inconsid- 
erate servility ;  and  the  governor,  who  never  again  allowed 
an  assembly,  was  "  reproached  and  vilified  "  for  his  arbitrary 
conduct.  The  Dutch  patents  for  land  were  held  to  require 
renewal,  and  Mcolls  gathered  a  harvest  of  fees  from  exacting 
new  title-deeds. 

Under  Lord  Lovelace,  who,  in  May,  1667,  succeeded  him, 
the  same  system  was  more  fully  developed.  In  1669,  even 
the  Swedes  and  Finns,  the  most  patient  of  all  emigrants,  were 
roused  to  resistance.  ''  The  method  for  keeping  the  people  in 
order  is  severity,  and  laying  such  taxes  as  may  give  them  lib- 
erty for  no  thought  but  how  to  discharge  them : "  such  was 
the  remedy  proposed  in  the  instructions  from  Lovelace  to  his 
southern  subordinate,  and  carried  into  efifect  by  an  arbitrary 
tariff. 

In  New  York,  where  the  established  powers  of  the  towns 
favored  the  demand  for  freedom,  eight  villages,  in  October 
of  1669,  united  in  remonstrating  against  the  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment ;  they  demanded  the  promised  legislation  by  annual 
assemblies.  But  absolute  government  was  the  settled  policy 
of  the  royal  proprietary ;  and  taxation  for  purposes  of  de- 
fence, by  the  decree  of  the  governor,  was  the  next  experi- 
ment. In  1670,  the  towns  of  Southold,  Southampton,  and 
Easthampton,  expressed  themselves  willing  to  contribute,  if 
they  might  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  Kew  England  colonies. 
The  people  of  Huntington  refused  altogether ;  for,  said  they, 
"  we  are  deprived  of  the  liberties  of  Englishmen."  The  peo- 
ple of  Jamaica  declared  the  decree  of  the  governor  a  dis- 
franchisement, contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  English  nation. 


1670-1673.  NEW  YORK.  525 

Flushing  and  Hempstead  were  equally  resolute.  The  votes 
of  the  several  towns  were  presented  to  the  governor  and  coun- 
cil ;  they  were  censured  as  "'  scandalous,  illegal,  and  seditious, 
alienating  the  peaceable  from  their  duty  and  obedience," 
and,  according  to  the  established  precedents  of  tyranny,  were 
ordered  to  be  publicly  burnt  before  the  town-house  of  New 
York. 

It  was  easy  to  burn  the  votes  which  the  yeomanry  of  Long 
Island  had  passed  in  their  town-meetings.  But,  meantime, 
the  forts  were  not  put  in  order ;  the  government  of  the  duke 
of  York  was  hated ;  and  when,  in  the  next  war  between  Eng- 
land and  the  Netherlands,  a  small  Dutch  squadron,  commanded 
by  the  gallant  Evertsen,  of  Zealand,  in  July,  1673,  approached 
Manhattan,  the  city  surrendered  within  four  hours ;  the  peo- 
ple of  New  Jersey  made  no  resistance ;  and  the  counties  on 
the  Delaware,  recovering  greater  privileges  than  they  had 
enjoyed,  cheerfully  followed  the  example.  The  Mohawk 
chiefs  congratulated  their  brethren  on  the  recovery  of  their 
colony.  "  We  have  always,"  said  they,  "  been  as  one  flesh. 
If  the  French  come  down  from  Canada,  we  will  join  with 
the  Dutch  nation,  and  live  and  die  with  them ; "  and  the 
words  of  love  were  confirmed  by  a  belt  of  wampum.  New 
York  was  once  more  a  province  of  the  Netherlands. 

The  nation  of  merchants  and  manufacturers  had  just 
achieved  its  independence  of  Spain  and  given  to  the  Prot- 
estant world  the  leading  example  of  a  federal  republic, 
when  its  mariners  took  possession  of  the  Hudson.  The 
country  was  now  reconquered,  at  a  time  when  the  provinces, 
single-handed,  were  again  struggling  for  existence  against 
yet  more  powerful  antagonists.  France,  supported  by  the 
bishops  of  Munster  and  Cologne,  had  succeeded  in  involving 
England  in  a  conspiracy  for  the  political  destruction  of  Eng- 
land's commercial  rival.  Charles  II.  had  begun  hostilities 
as  a  pirate;  and  Louis  XIY.  did  not  disguise  the  purpose 
of  conquest.  In  1673,  with  armies  amounting  to  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  to  which  the  Netherlands  could  oppose 
only  twenty  thousand,  the  French  monarch  invaded  the  re- 
public ;  and,  within  a  month,  it  was  exposed  to  the  same 
desperate  dangers  which  had  been  encountered  a  century  be- 


526    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii. ;  oh.  xiv. 

fore ;  while  the  English  fleet,  hovering  off  the  coast,  endeav- 
ored to  land  English  troops  in  the  heart  of  the  wealthiest  of 
the  provinces.  The  annals  of  the  human  race  record  but  few 
instances  where  moral  power  has  so  successfully  defied  every 
disparity  of  force,  and  repelled  desperate  odds  by  invincible 
heroism.  At  sea,  where  greatly  superior  numbers  were  on 
the  side  of  the  allied  fleets  of  France  and  England,  the  un- 
tiring courage  of  the  Dutch  would  not  consent  to  be  defeated. 
On  land,  the  dikes  were  broken  up ;  the  country  drowned ; 
the  son  of  Grotius,  suppressing  anger  at  the  ignominious  pro- 
posals of  the  French,  protracted  negotiations  till  the  rising 
waters  could  form  a  wide  and  impassable  moat  round  the 
cities.  At  Groningen  the  whole  population,  without  regard 
to  sex,  children  even,  labored  on  the  fortifications ;  and  fear 
was  not  permitted  even  to  a  woman.  Arlington,  one  of  the 
joint  proprietaries  of  Virginia,  advised  William  of  Orange  to 
seek  advancement  by  yielding  to  England.  "  My  country," 
replied  the  young  man,  ''trusts  in  me;  I  will  not  sacri- 
fice it  to  my  interests,  but,  if  need  be,  die  with  it  in  the 
last  ditch."  The  landing  of  British  troops  in  Holland  could 
be  prevented  only  by  three  naval  engagements.  De  Ruyter 
and  the  younger  Tromp  had  been  bitter  enemies ;  the  latter 
had  been  disgraced  on  the  accusation  of  the  former ;  political 
animosities  had  increased  the  feud.  At  the  battle  of  Souls- 
bay,  in  June,  1673,  where  the  Dutch  with  fifty-two  ships  of 
the  line  engaged  an  enemy  with  eighty,  De  Ruyter  was  suc- 
cessful in  his  first  manoeuvres,  while  the  extraordinary  ardor 
of  Tromp  plunged  headlong  into  dangers  which  he  could  not 
overcome;  the  frank  and  true-hearted  De  Euyter  checked 
himself  in  the  career  of  victory,  and  turned  to  the  relief  of 
his  rival.  "  Oh,  there  comes  grandfather  to  the  rescue," 
shouted  Tromp,  in  an  ecstasy ;  "  I  never  will  desert  him  so 
long  as  I  breathe."  The  issue  of  the  day  was  uncertain.  In 
the  second  battle,  the  advantage  was  with  the  Dutch.  About 
three  weeks  after  the  conquest  of  Kew  Netherland,  the  last 
and  most  terrible  conflict  took  place  near  the  Helder.  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  Dutch  mariners  dared  almost  infinite  deeds 
of  valor ;  as  the  noise  of  the  artillery  boomed  along  the  low 
coast  of  Holland,  the  churches  on  the  shore  were  thronged 


1674.  NEW   YORK.  527 

with  suppliants,  begging  victory  for  the  riglit  cause  and  their 
country.  The  contest  raged,  and  was  exhausted,  and  was 
again  renewed  with  unexampled  fury.  But  victory  was  with 
De  Ruyter  and  the  younger  Tromp.  The  British  fleet  retreat- 
ed, and  was  pursued  ;  the  coasts  of  Holland  were  protected. 

For  more  than  a  century  no  other  naval  combat  was  fought 
between  Netherlands  and  England.  The  English  parliament, 
condemning  the  war,  refused  supplies  ;  Prussia  and  Austria 
were  alarmed ;  Spain  openly  threatened ;  and  Charles  II.,  in 
16Y4,  consented  to  treaties.  All  conquests  were  to  be  restored ; 
and  Holland,  which  had  been  the  first  to  claim  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  oceans,  against  its  present  interests  established  by 
compact  the  rights  of  neutral  flags.  In  a  work  dedicated  to 
all  the  princes  and  nations  of  Christendom,  and  addressed  to 
the  common  intelligence  of  the  civilized  world,  the  admirable 
Grotius,  contending  that  right  and  wrong  are  not  the  evanes- 
cent expressions  of  fluctuating  opinions,  but  are  endowed  with 
an  immortality  of  their  own,  had  established  the  freedom  of 
the  seas  on  the  imperishable  foundation  of  public  justice.  Ideas 
once  generated  live  forever.  With  the  recognition  of  maritime 
liberty,  Holland  disappears  from  our  history ;  when,  after  the 
lapse  of  more  than  a  century,  this  principle  comes  into  jeop- 
ardy, Holland,  the  mother  of  four  of  our  states,  will  rise  up 
as  our  ally,  bequeathing  to  the  new  federal  republic  the  de- 
fence of  commercial  freedom  which  she  had  vindicated  against 
Spain,  and  for  which  we  shall  see  her  prosperity  fall  a  victim 
to  England. 

At  the  final  transfer  of  New  Netherland  to  England,  on 
the  last  day  of  October,  1674,  after  a  military  occupation  of 
fifteen  months  by  the  Dutch,  the  brother  of  Charles  II.  re- 
sumed the  possession  of  New  York,  and  Carteret  appeared 
once  more  as  proprietary  of  the  eastern  moiety  of  New  Jersey ; 
but  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  were  reserved  for  men  who  had 
learned  the  right  principle  of  public  law  from  the  uneducated 
Bon  of  a  poor  Leicestershire  weaver. 


George  Bancroft,  HISTORY  OF 
THEN  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
from  the  discovery  of  the 
Continent,  Vol.  1,  Ch.  25,  Vol.  4, 
Ch.  28 


CHAPTER  XY. 

THE   PEOPLE   CALLED    QUAKERS    m   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  nobler  instincts  of  humanitj  are  the  same  in  every 
age  and  in  every  breast.  Tlie  exalted  hopes  that  have  digni- 
fied former  generations  of  men  will  be  renewed  as  long  as  the 
race  shall  survive.  A  spiritual  unity  binds  together  the  mem- 
bers of  the  human  family ;  and  every  heart  contains  an  incor- 
ruptible seed,  capable  of  springing  up  and  producing  all  that 
man  can  know  of  God  and  duty  and  the  soul.  An  inward 
voice,  uncreated  by  schools,  independent  of  refinement,  opens 
to  the  unlettered  hind,  not  less  than  to  the  polished  scholar,  a 
sure  pathway  to  immortal  truth. 

This  is  the  faith  of  the  people  called  Quakers.  A  moral 
principle  is  tested  by  the  attempt  to  reduce  it  to  practice. 

The  history  of  European  civilization  is  the  history  of  the 
gradual  enfranchisement  of  classes  of  society.  In  every  Euro- 
pean code,  the  ages  of  feudal  influence,  of  mercantile  ambi- 
tion, of  the  enfranchisement  of  the  country  people,  appear 
distinctly  in  succession. 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  peasantry  of  England,  con- 
ducted by  tilers  and  carters  and  ploughmen,  demanded  of  a 
youthful  king  deliverance  from  the  bondage  and  burdens  of 
feudal  oppression ;  in  the  fifteenth,  the  last  traces  of  villein- 
age were  wiped  away ;  in  the  sixteenth,  the  noblest  ideas  of 
human  destiny,  awakening  in  the  common  mind,  became  the 
central  points  round  which  plebeian  sects  were  gathered ;  in 
the  seventeenth,  the  men  that  turned  the  battle  on  Marston 
Moor  were  mechanics  and  yeomen  and  the  sons  of  yeomen, 
fighting,  as  they  believed,  for  their  own  cause. 

Political  liberties  had  been  followed  by  the  emancipation 


QUAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  529 

of  knowledge.  The  merchants  always  tolerated  or  favored 
the  pursuits  of  science;  Galileo  would  have  been  safe  at 
Yenice,  and  honored  at  Amsterdam  or  London.  The  method 
of  free  inquiry,  applied  to  chemistry,  had  invented  gunpowder, 
and  changed  the  manners  of  the  feudal  aristocracy ;  applied  to 
geography,  had  discovered  a  hemisphere,  and,  circumnavigat- 
ing the  globe,  made  the  theatre  of  commerce  wide  as  the 
world ;  applied  to  the  mechanical  process  of  multiplying 
books,  had,  in  Protestant  countries,  brought  the  New  Testa- 
ment, in  the  vulgar  tongue,  within  the  reach  of  every  class ; 
applied  to  the  rights  of  persons  and  property,  had,  for  the 
Englisli,  built  up  a  system  of  common  law  and  given  securi- 
ties to  liberty. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  Descartes  had  already  applied 
the  method  of  observation  and  free  inquiry  to  the  study  of 
morals  and  the  mind;  in  England,  Bacon  hardly  proceeded 
beyond  the  bounds  of  natural  philosophy.  Freedom,  as  ap- 
plied to  morals,  was  cherished  in  England  among  the  people, 
and  therefore  had  its  development  in  religion.  At  the  Ref- 
ormation, the  inferior  clergy,  rising  against  Rome  and  against 
domestic  tyranny,  had  a  common  faith  and  common  political 
cause  with  the  people.  A  body  of  the  yeomani-y,  becoming 
Independents,  planted  Plymouth  colony.  A  part  of  the  gen- 
try espoused  Calvinism,  and  fled  to  Massachusetts.  The  pop- 
ular movement  of  intellectual  liberty  was  measured  by  ad- 
vances toward  the  liberty  of  preaching  and  the  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

The  moment  was  arrived  for  the  plebeian  mind  to  escape 
from  hereditary  prejudices;  when  the  inquisitiveness  of  Ba- 
con, the  enthusiasm  of  Wycliffe,  and  the  politics  of  Wat  Ty- 
ler, were  to  gain  the  highest  unity  in  a  sect ;  when  a  popular, 
and,  therefore,  in  that  age,  a  religious  party,  building  upon  a 
divine  principle,  should  demand  freedom  of  thought,  purity 
of  morals,  and  universal  enfranchisement. 

The  sect  had  its  birth  in  a  period  when  in  England  re- 
form was  invading  the  church,  subverting  the  throne,  and 
repealing  the  privileges  of  feudalism ;  when  Presbyterians 
were  quarrelling  with  Anabaptists  and  Independents,  and  all 
the  three  with  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  English  church. 


530     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO  1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  xv. 

The  sect  could  arise  only  among  the  common  people,  who 
had  everything  to  gain  by  its  success,  and  the  least  to  hazard 
by  its  failure.  The  privileged  classes  had  no  motive  to  de^ 
velop  a  principle  before  which  their  privileges  would  crumble. 
"  Poor  mechanics,"  said  William  Penn,  "  are  wont  to  be  God's 
great  ambassadors  to  mankind."  ''  He  hath  raised  up  a  few 
despicable  and  illiterate  men,"  wrote  the  accomplished  Bar- 
clay, "  to  dispense  the  more  full  glad  tidings  l-eserved  for  our 
age."  It  was  the  comfort  of  the  Quakers  that  they  received 
the  truth  from  a  simple  sort  of  people,  unmixed  with  the 
learning  of  schools ;  and,  almost  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  a  plebeian  sect  proceeded  to  that  complete 
enfranchisement  of  mind  which  Socrates  had  explained  to  the 
young  men  of  Athens. 

The  simplicity  of  truth  was  restored  by  humble  instru- 
ments, and  its  first  messenger  was  of  low  degree.  George 
Fox,  the  son  of  "righteous  Christopher,"  a  Leicestershire 
weaver,  by  his  mother  descended  from  the  stock  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, distinguished  even  in  boyhood  by  frank  inflexibility  and 
deep  religious  feeling,  became  in  early  life  an  apprentice  to 
a  Nottingham  shoemaker  who  was  a  landholder,  and,  like 
David,  and  Tamerlane,  and  Sixtus  Y.,  was  set  by  his  em- 
ployer to  watch  sheep.  The  occupation  was  grateful  to  him 
for  its  freedom,  innocency,  and  solitude;  and  the  years  of 
earliest  youth  passed  away  in  prayer  and  reading  the  Bible, 
frequent  fasts,  and  the  reveries  of  contemplative  devotion. 
His  boyish  spirit  yearned  after  excellence  ;  and  he  was  haunted 
by  a  vague  desire  of  an  unknown,  illimitable  good.  In  1644, 
the  most  stormy  period  of  the  English  democratic  revolution, 
just  as  the  Independents  were  beginning  to  make  head  suc- 
cessfully against  the  Presbyterians,  when  the  impending  ruin 
of  royalty  and  the  hierarchy  made  republicanism  the  doctrine 
of  a  party,  and  inspiration  the  faith  of  fanatics,  Fox,  as  he 
revolved  the  question  of  human  destiny,  was  agitated  even  to 
despair.  The  melancholy  to  which  youth  inclines  heightened 
his  anguish  ;  abandoning  his  flocks  and  his  shoemaker's  bench, 
he  nourished  his  inexplicable  grief  by  retired  meditations, 
and,  often  walking  solitary  in  the  chase,  sought  for  a  vision 
of  God. 


(QUAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  631 

He  questioned  his  life ;  but  his  blameless  life  offered  noth- 
ing for  remorse.  He  went  to  many  "  priests "  for  comfort, 
but  found  no  comfort  from  them.  His  wretchedness  urged 
him  to  visit  London ;  and  there  the  religious  feuds  convinced 
him  that  the  great  professors  were  dark.  He  returned  to  the 
country,  where  some  advised  him  to  marry,  others  to  join 
Cromwell's  army ;  but  his  restless  spirit  drove  him  into  the 
fields,  where  he  walked  many  nights  long  by  himself,  in  mis- 
ery too  great  to  be  declared.  Yet  at  times  a  ray  of  heav- 
enly joy  beamed  upon  his  soul. 

He  had  been  bred  in  the  church  of  England.  One  day,  in 
1646,  the  thought  arose  in  his  mind  that  a  man  might  be  bred 
at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  and  yet  be  unable  to  explain  the 
great  problem  of  existence.  Again  he  reflected  that  God  lives 
not  in  temples  of  brick  and  stone,  but  in  the  hearts  of  the 
living ;  and  from  the  parish  priest  and  the  parish  church  he 
turned  to  the  dissenters.  But  among  them  he  found  the  most 
experienced  unable  to  reach  his  condition. 

Neither  could  the  pursuit  of  wealth  detain  his  mind  from 
its  struggle  for  fixed  truth.  His  desires  were  those  which 
wealth  could  not  satisfy.  A  king's  diet,  palace,  and  attend- 
ance, had  been  to  him  as  nothing.  Rejecting  "the  change- 
able ways  of  religious "  sects,  the  "  brittle  notions "  and  airy 
theories  of  philosophy,  he  longed  for  "  unchangeable  truth," 
a  firm  foundation  of  morals  in  the  soul.  His  inquiring  mind 
was  gently  led  along  to  principles  of  boundless  and  eternal 
love,  till  light  dawned  within  him  ;  and,  though  the  world 
was  rocked  by  tempests  of  opinion,  his  secret  and  as  yet  un- 
conscious belief  w^as  stayed  by  the  anchor  of  hope. 

George  Fox  had  already  risen  above  the  prejudices  of 
sects.  The  greatest  danger  remained.  Liberty  may  be  pushed 
to  lawlessness,  and  freedom  is  the  fork  in  the  road  where  the 
by-way  leads  to  infidelity.  One  morning,  in  1648,  as  Fox 
sat  silently  by  the  fire,  a  cloud  came  over  him ;  a  baser  in- 
stinct seemed  to  say  :  "  All  things  come  by  nature ;  "  and  the 
elements  and  the  stars  oppressed  his  imagination  with  a  vision 
of  pantheism.  But,  as  he  continued  musing,  a  true  voice 
arose  within  him,  and  said :  "  There  is  a  living  God."  At 
once  his  soul  enjoyed  the  sweetness  of  repose;  and  he  came 


532    BRITISH  AMERICA'  FROM   1660   TO  1688.     paeth.;  oh.  xv. 

up  in  spirit  from  the  agony  of  doubt  into  the  presence  of 
truth.  He  thirsted  for  a  reform  in  every  branch  of  learning. 
The  physician  should  quit  the  strife  of  words,  and  solve  the 
appearances  of  nature  by  an  intimate  study  of  the  higher  laws 
of  being.  The  priests,  rejecting  authority  and  giving  up  the 
trade  in  knowledge,  should  seek  oracles  of  truth  in  the  purity 
of  conscience.  The  lawyers,  abandoning  their  chicanery, 
should  tell  their  clients  plainly  that  he  who  wrongs  his  neigh- 
bor does  a  wrong  to  himself.  The  heavenly  minded  man  was 
become  a  divine  and  a  naturalist,  and  all  of  God  Almighty's 
making. 

In  this  way  did  George  Fox  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
not  the  universities,  not  the  Koman  see,  not  the  English 
church,  not  dissenters,  not  the  whole  outward  world,  can  lead 
to  a  fixed  rule  of  morality.  The  law  in  the  heart  must  be 
received  without  prejudice,  cherished  without  mixture,  and 
obeyed  without  fear. 

Confident  that  his  name  was  written  in  the  Lamb's  book 
of  life,  he  was  borne,  by  an  irrepressible  impulse,  to  go  forth 
into  the  briery  and  brambly  world,  and  publish  the  glorious 
principles  which  had  rescued  him  from  despair  and  infidelity, 
and  given  him  a  clear  perception  of  the  immutable  distinc- 
tions between  right  and  wrong.  At  the  very  crisis  when  the 
house  of  commons  was  abolishing  monarchy  and  the  peerage, 
about  two  years  and  a  half  from  the  day  when  Cromwell 
went  on  his  knees  to  kiss  the  hand  of  the  young  boy  who  wae 
duke  of  York,  the  Lord,  who  sent  George  Fox  into  the  world, 
forbade  him  to  put  off  his  hat  to  any,  high  or  low ;  and  he 
was  required  to  thee  and  thou  all  men  and  women,  without 
any  respect  to  rich  or  poor,  to  great  or  small.  The  sound  of 
the  church  bell  in  Nottingham,  the  home  of  his  boyhood, 
offended  his  heart ;  like  Milton  and  Koger  Williams,  his  soul 
abhorred  the  hireling  ministry  of  diviners  for  money ;  and,  on 
the  morning  of  a  first-day,  he  was  moved  to  go  to  the  great 
steeple-house  and  cry  against  the  idol.  "  When  I  came  there," 
says  Fox,  "the  people  looked  like  fallow  ground,  and  the 
priest,  like  a  great  lump  of  earth,  stood  in  the  pulpit  above. 
He  took  for  his  text  these  words  of  Peter :  *  We  have  also  a 
more  sure  word  of  prophecy ; '  and  told  the  people  this  was 


QUAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  533 

the  scriptures.  Kow,  the  Lord's  power  was  so  mighty  upon 
me,  and  so  strong  in  me,  that  I  could  not  hold  ;  but  was  made 
to  cry  out :  '  Oh,  no !  it  is  not  the  scriptures,  it  is  the  Spirit.'  " 
The  principle  contained  a  moral  revolution.  If  it  flattered 
self-love  and  fed  enthusiasm,  it  established  absolute  freedom 
of  mind,  trod  every  idolatry  under  foot,  and  entered  the 
strongest  protest  against  the  forms  of  a  hierarchy.  It  was  the 
principle  for  which  Socrates  died  and  Plato  suffered ;  and, 
now  that  Fox  went  forth  to  proclaim  it  among  the  people,  he 
was  everywhere  resisted  with  angry  vehemence,  and  priests 
and  professors,  magistrates  and  people,  swelled  like  the  raging 
waves  of  the  sea.  At  the  Lancaster  sessions,  forty  priests 
appeared  against  him  at  once.  To  the  ambitious  Presbyteri- 
ans, it  seemed  as  if  hell  were  broke  loose ;  and  Fox,  impris- 
oned and  threatened  with  the  gallows,  still  rebuked  their 
bitterness  as  "exceeding  rude  and  devilish,"  resisting  and 
overcoming  pride  with  unbending  stubbornness.  Possessed  of 
great  ideas  which  he  could  not  trace  to  their  origin,  a  mystery 
to  himself,  he  believed  himself  the  ward  of  Providence,  and 
his  doctrine  the  spontaneous  expression  of  irresistible,  intui- 
tive truth.  Nothing  could  daunt  his  enthusiasm.  Cast  into 
jail  among  felons,  he  claimed  of  the  public  tribunals  a  release 
only  to  continue  his  exertions;  and,  as  he  rode  about  the 
country,  the  seed  of  God  sparkled  about  him  like  innumerable 
sparks  of  fire.  If  cruelly  beaten,  or  set  in  the  stocks,  or  ridi- 
culed as  mad,  he  none  the  less  proclaimed  the  oracles  of  the 
voice  within  him,  and  rapidly  gained  adherents  among  the 
country  people.  Driven  from  the  church,  he  spoke  in  the 
open  air;  forced  from  the  humble  ale-house,  he  slept  with- 
out fear  under  a  haystack,  or  watched  among  the  furze. 
Crowds  gathered,  like  flocks  of  pigeons,  to  hear  him.  His 
frame  in  prayer  is  described  as  the  most  awful,  living,  and 
reverent  ever  felt  or  seen;  and  his  vigorous  understanding, 
disciplined  by  clear  convictions  to  natural  dialectics,  made 
him  powerful  in  the  public  discussions  to  which  he  defied 
the  world.  A  true  witness,  writing  from  knowledge  and 
not  report,  declares  that,  by  night  and  by  day,  by  sea  and 
by  land,  in  everj  emergency  he  was  always  in  his  place,  and 
always  a  match  for  every  service  and  occasion.      By  degrees 


534    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  oh.  xv. 

"  the  hypocrites  "  feared  to  dispute  with  him ;  and  the  priests 
trembled  and  "scud"  as  he  drew  near;  "so  that  it  was  a 
dreadful  thing  to  them,  when  it  was  told  them :  *  The  man  in 
leathern  breeches  is  come.'  " 

The  converts  to  his  doctrine  were  chiefly  among  the  yeo- 
manry ;  and  Quakers  were  compared  to  the  butterflies  that 
live  in  fells.  It  is  the  boast  of  Barclay  that  the  simplicity 
of  truth  was  restored  by  weak  instruments,  and  Penn  exults 
that  the  message  came  without  suspicion  of  human  wisdom. 
The  strong  perception  of  speculative  truth  imparted  to  illiter- 
ate mechanics  energy  and  unity  of  mind  and  character ;  with 
unconscious  sagacity  they  spontaneously  developed  the  system 
of  moral  truth,  which,  as  they  believed,  exists  as  an  incorrupti- 
ble seed  in  every  soul. 

Every  human  being  was  embraced  within  the  sphere  of 
their  benevolence.  George  Fox  did  not  fail,  by  letter,  to 
catechise  Innocent  XI.  Ploughmen  and  milkmaids,  becoming 
itinerant  preachers,  sounded  the  alarm  to  the  consciences  of 
Puritans  and  Cavaliers,  of  the  Pope  and  the  Grand  Turk,  of 
the  negro  and  the  savage.  The  plans  of  the  Quakers  de- 
signed no  less  than  the  establishment  of  a  universal  religion  ; 
their  apostles  made  their  way  to  Rome  and  Jerusalem,  to  New 
England  and  Egypt ;  and  some  were  even  moved  to  go  toward 
China  and  Japan,  and  in  search  of  the  unknown  realms  of 
Prester  John. 

The  rise  of  the  people  called  Quakers  marks  the  moment 
when  intellectual  freedom  was  claimed  unconditionally  by  the 
people  as  an  inalienable  birthright.  To  the  masses  in  that  age 
all  reflection  on  politics  and  morals  presented  itself  under  a 
theological  form.  The  Quaker  doctrine  is  philosophy,  sum- 
moned from  the  cloister,  the  college,  and  the  saloon,  and 
planted  among  the  most  despised  of  the  people. 

As  poetry  is  older  than  critics,  so  philosophy  is  older  than 
metaphysicians.  The  mysterious  question  of  the  purpose  of 
our  being  is  always  before  us  and  within  us ;  and  the  child, 
as  it  begins  to  prattle,  makes  inquiries  which  learning  can- 
not solve.  The  method  of  the  solution  adopted  by  the  Quak- 
ers was  the  natural  consequence  of  their  origin.  The  mind 
of  Geoj:gsJiix  had  the  highest  systematic  sagacity ;  and  his 


QUAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  535 

doctrine,  developed  and  rendered  illustrious  by  Barclay  and 
Penn,  was  distinguished  by  its  simplicity  and  unity.  The 
Quaker  has  but  one  word,  the  inner  light,  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  soul.  That  light  is  a  reality,  and  therefore  in 
its  freedom  the  highest  revelation  of  truth ;  it  is  kindred 
with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  therefore  in  its  purity  should 
be  listened  to  as  the  guide  to  virtue ;  it  shines  in  every  man's 
breast,  and  therefore  joins  the  whole  human  race  in  the  unity 
of  equal  rights.  Intellectual  freedom,  the  supremacy  of  mind, 
universal  enfrfliiohispmpnt  —  t.hpsft  thrpp.  points  inphidfi  tjift 
whole  of  Quakerism,  as  far  Hifi  J^  hplnnga  fn  pivil  ]n'^f,f^rj 

Quakerism  rests  on  the  reality  of  the  Inner  Light.  The 
revelation  of  truth  is  immediate.  Xt_8£riiiga_jieither  from 
tradition  nor  from  the  senses,  but  from  the  mind.  IN^o  man 
comes  to  the  knowledge  of  God  but  by  the  Spirit.  "  Each 
person,"  says  Penn,  "knows  God  from  an  infallible  demon- 
stration in  himself,  and  not  on  the  slender  grounds  of  men's 
lo  here  interpretations,  or  lo  there."  "  The  instinct  of  a  De- 
ity is  so  natural  to  man  that  he  can  no  more  be  without  it, 
and  be,  than  he  can  be  without  the  most  essential  part  of  him- 
self." As  the  eye  opens,  light  enters ;  and  the  mind,  as  it  looks 
in  upon  itself,  receives  moral  truth  by  intuition.  Others  have 
sought  wisdom  by  consulting  the  outward  world,  and,  con- 
founding consciousness  with  reflection,  have  trusted  solely  to 
the  senses  for  the  materials  of  thought ;  the  Quaker,  placing 
no  dependence  on  the  world  of  senses,  calls  the  soul  home 
from  its  wanderings  through  the  mazes  of  tradition  and  the 
wonders  of  the  visible  universe,  bidding  the  vagrant  sit  down 
by  its  own  fires  to  read  the  divine  inscription  on  the  heart. 
"  Some  seek  truth  in  books,  some  in  learned  men,  but  what 
they  seek  for  is  in  themselves."  "  Man  is  an  epitome  of  the 
world,  and,  to  be  learned  in  it,  we  have  only  to  read  ourselves 
well."  Tradition  cannot  enjoin  a  ceremony,  still  less  estab- 
lish a  doctrine;  historical  faith  is  as  the  old  heavens  that  are 
to  be  wrapped  up  like  a  scroll. 

The  constant  standard  of  truth  and  goodness,  says  William 
Penn,  is  God  in  the  conscience ;  and  to  restrain  liberty  of  con- 
science is  therefore  an  invasion  of  the  divine  prerogative.  It 
robs  man  of  the  use  of  the  instinct  of  a  Deity,  and  prevents 


536    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     paetii.;  oh.  xv. 

the  progress  of  society ;  or  rather,  as  the  beneficent  course  of 
Providence  cannot  be  checked,  it  is  in  men  of  the  present 
generation  but  knotting  a  whip-cord  to  lash  their  own  pos- 
terity. 

But  the  Quaker  asked  for  conscience  more  than  security 
against  penal  legislation.  He  denied  the  value  of  all  learn- 
ing, except  that  which  the  mind  appropriates  by  its  own 
intelligence.  The  lessons  of  tradition  were  no  better  than  the 
prating  of  a  parrot,  and  letter  learning  may  be  hurtful  as 
well  as  helpful.  When  the  mind  is  not  free,  the  devil  can 
accompany  the  zealot  to  his  prayers  and  the  doctor  to  his 
study.  The  soul  is  a  living  fountain  of  immortal  truth  ;  but 
a  college  is  in  itself  no  better  than  a  cistern,  in  which  water 
may  stagnate.  The  pedant  may  plume  himself  in  the  belief 
that  erudition  is  wisdom ;  but  the  waters  of  life  well  up  from 
the  soul  in  spontaneous  freedom ;  and  the  unlearned  artisan 
need  not  fear  to  rebuke  the  proudest  rabbis  of  the  university. 

The  Quaker  equally  claimed  the  emancipation  of  con- 
science from  the  terrors  of  superstition.  He  did  not  waken 
devotion  by  appeals  to  fear.  He  could  not  grow  pale  from 
dread  of  apparitions,  or,  like  Grotius,  establish  his  faith  by  the 
testimony  of  ghosts ;  and,  in  an  age  when  the  English  courts 
punished  witchcraft  with  death,  he  rejected  the  delusion  as 
having  no  warrant  in  the  free  experience  of  the  soul.  To  him 
no  spirit  was  created  evil ;  the  world  began  with  innocency ; 
and,  as  God  blessed  the  works  of  his  hands,  their  natures 
and  harmony  magnified  their  Creator.  God  made  no  devil ; 
for  all  that  he  made  was  good. 

The  Quaker  was  warned  against  the  delusions  of  self-love. 
His  enemies  sneered  at  his  idol  as  a  delirious  will-o'-the-wisp, 
that  claimed  a  heavenly  descent  for  the  offspring  of  earthly 
passions ;  but  Fox  and  Barclay  and  Penn  as  earnestly  de- 
nounced "  the  idolatry  which  hugs  its  own  conceptions,"  mis- 
taking the  whimseys  of  a  feverish  brain  for  the  calm  revela- 
tions of  truth,  "  How  shall  I  know,"  asks  Penn,  "  that  a  man 
does  not  obtrude  his  own  sense  upon  us  as  the  infallible 
Spirit  ? "  And  he  answers,  "  By  the  same  Spirit."  The  Spirit 
witnesseth  to  our  spirit.  The  Quaker  repudiates  the  erroi^ 
which  the  bigotry  of  sects,  or  the  zeal  of  selfishness,  or  the 


QUAKEKS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  637 

delusion  of  the  senses,  has  engrafted  upon  the  unchanging 
principles  of  morals;  and  accepting  intelligence  wherever  it 
emerges  from  the  collision  of  parties  and  the  strife  in  the 
world  of  opinions,  he  gathers  together  the  universal  truths 
which  of  necessity  constitute  the  common  creed  of  mankind. 
Quakerism  "  is  a  most  rational  system."  Judgment  is  to  be 
made  not  from  the  rash  and  partial  mind,  but  from  the  eter- 
nal light  that  never  errs.  The  divine  revelation  is  universal, 
and  compels  assent.  The  jarring  reasonings  of  individuals 
have  filled  the  world  with  controversies  and  debates ;  the  one 
true  light  pleads  its  excellency  in  every  breast.  E'either  may 
the  divine  revelation  be  confounded  with  individual  con- 
science; for  the  conscience  of  the  individual  follows  judg- 
ment, and  may  be  warped  by  self-love  and  debauched  by  lust. 
The  Turk  has  no  remorse  for  sensual  indulgence,  because  he 
has  defiled  his  judgment  with  a  false  opinion.  The  papist, 
if  he  eat  flesh  in  Lent,  is  reproved  by  the  inward  monitor ; 
for  that  monitor  is  blinded  by  a  false  belief.  The  true  light  is 
therefore  not  the  reason  of  the  individual,  nor  the  conscience 
of  the  individual;  it  is  the  light  of  universal  reason;  the 
voice  of  universal  conscience,  "  manifesting  its  own  verity,  in 
that  it  is  confirmed  and  established  by  the  experience  of  all 
men."  *'  It  constrains  even  its  adversaries  to  plead  for  it." 
"  It  never  contradicts  sound  reason,"  and  is  the  noblest  and 
most  certain  rule  ;  for  "  the  divine  revelation  is  so  evident  and 
clear  of  itself,  that  by  its  own  evidence  and  clearness  it  irre- 
sistibly forces  the  well-disposed  understanding  to  assent." 

The  Bible  was  the  religion  of  Protestants ;  had  the  Quaker 
abetter  guide?  The  Quaker  believes  that  the  tSpirit  is  \h(^. 
guide  wh^Vh  1^^^«  ^^^^  «11  ^rnih  ^  and  reads  fhf^  s^^ripf-nrpa  wif.K 
dp.ligrhf,^  hnt  not,  wi<-T^  jdo^^^^y  It  is  his  own  soul  which  bears 
the  valid  witness  that  they  are  true.  The  letter  is  not  the 
Spirit;  the  Bible  is  not  religion,  but  a  record  of  religion. 
"  The  scriptures  " — such  are  Barclay's  words — "  are  a  declara- 
tion of  the  fountain,  and  not  the  fountain  itself." 

Far  from  rejecting  Christianity,  the  Quaker  insisted  that  he 
alone  held  it  in  its  primitive  simplicity.  The  skeptic  forever 
vibrated  between  opinions;  the  Quaker  was  fixed  even  to  dog- 
matism.    The  scoffer  pushed  freedom  to  indifference;   the 

VOL.  I.— 36 


538    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xv. 

Quaker  circumscribed  freedom  by  obedience  to  truth.  George 
Fox  and  Yoltaire  both  protested  against  priestcraft ;  Yoltaire 
in  behalf  of  the  senses,  Fox  in  behalf  of  the  soul.  To  the 
Quakers,  Christianity  is  freedom.  And  they  loved  to  remem- 
ber that  the  patriarchs  were  graziers,  that  the  prophets  were 
mechanics  and  shepherds,  that  John  Baptist,  the  greatest  of 
envoys,  was  clad  in  a  rough  garment  of  camel's  hair.  To 
them  there  was  joy  in  the  thought  that  the  brightest  image  of 
divinity  on  earth  had  been  born  in  a  manger,  had  been  reared 
under  the  roof  of  a  carpenter,  had  been  content  for  himself 
and  his  guests  with  no  greater  luxury  than  barley  loaves  and 
fishes,  and  that  the  messengers  of  his  choice  had  been  rustics 
like  themselves.  l!Tor  were  they  embarrassed  by  knotty  points 
of  theology.  Was  the  Trinity  defended  or  denied  by  minute 
criticism  on  various  readings,  they  avoided  the  use  of  the  word  ; 
but  the  idea  of  God  with  us,  the  union  of  Deity  with  hu- 
manity,  was  to  the  Quaker  the  most  sublime  symbol  of  man's 
enfranchisement. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  faith,  every  avenue  to  truth  was 
to  be  kept  open.  "  Christ  came  not  to  extinguish,  but  to  im- 
prove the  heathen  knowledge."  "  The  difference  between  the 
philosophers  of  Greece  and  the  Christian  Quaker  is  rather  in 
manifestation  than  in  nature."  He  cries  "  Stand "  to  every 
thought  that  knocks  for  entrance,  but  welcomes  it  as  a  friend 
if  it  gives  the  watchword.  Happy  in  the  wonderful  bond 
which  admitted  him  to  a  communion  with  all  the  sons  of  light, 
of  every  nation  and  age,  he  rejected  with  scorn  the  school  of 
Epicurus ;  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the  follies  of  the  skep- 
tics ;  and  esteemed  even  the  mind  of  Aristotle  too  much  bent 
upon  the  outward  world.  But  Aristotle  himself,  in  so  far  as 
he  grounds  philosophy  on  virtue  and  self-denial,  and  all  con- 
templative sages,  orators  and  philosophers,  statesmen  and 
divines,  were  gathered  as  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  the  same 
unchanging  truth.  "  The  Inner  Light,"  said  Penn,  "  is  the 
domestic  God  of  Pythagoras."  The  voice  in  the  breast  of 
George  Fox,  as  he  kept  sheep  on  the  hills  of  J^ottingham, 
is  the  spirit  which  had  been  the  good  genius  of  Socrates. 
Above  all,  the  Christian  Quaker  delighted  in  "  the  divinely 
contemplative  Plato,"  the  "famous  doctor  of  gentile  theol- 


QUAKERS  m  THE  UliriTED  STATES.  53$ 

ogy,"  and  recognised  the  identity  of  the  Inner  Light  with  the 
divine  principle  of  Plotinus.  Quakerism  is  as  old  as  hu- 
manity. 

The  Inner  Light  is  to  the  Quaker  not  only  the  revelation 
of  truth,  but  the  guide  of  life  and  the  oracle  of  duty.  Tlie 
doctrine  of  disinterested  virtue — the  doctrine  for  which  Guy- 
on  was  persecuted  and  Fenelon  disgraced,  the  doctrine  which 
tyrants  condemn  as  rebellion,  and  priests  as  heresy^was  cher- 
ished by  the  Quaker  as  the  foundation  of  morality^  Self- 
denial  he  enforced  with  ascetic  severity,  yet  never  with  as- 
cetic superstition.  He  might  array  himself  fantastically  to 
express  a  truth  by  an  apparent  symbol,  but  he  never  wore  sack- 
cloth as  an  anchorite.  "  Thoughts  of  death  and  hell  to  keep 
out  sin  were  to  him  no  better  than  fig-leaves."  He  would 
obey  the  imperative  dictate  of  truth  even  though  the  fires  of 
hell  were  quenched.  Yirtue  is  happiness ;  heaven  is  with  her 
always. 

The  Quakers  knew  no  superstitious  vows  of  celibacy ;  they 
favored  no  nunneries,  monasteries,  "or  religious  bedlams;" 
but  they  demanded  purity  of  life  as  essential  to  the  welfare 
of  society,  and  founded  the  institution  of  marriage  on  perma- 
nent  ailection,  not  on  transient  passion.  Their  matches,  they 
were  wont  to  say,  are  registered  in  heaven.  Has  a  recent 
school  of  philosophy  discovered  in  wars  and  pestilence,  in 
vices  and  poverty,  salutary  checks  on  population  ?  The 
Quaker,  confident  of  the  supremacy  of  mind,  feared  no  evil, 
though  plagues  and  war  should  cease,  and  vice  and  poverty 
be  banished  by  intelligent  culture.  Despotism  favors  the  lib- 
erty of  the  senses ;  and  popular  freedom  rests  on  sanctity  of 
morals.  To  the  Quaker,  licentiousness  is  the  greatest  bane  of 
good  order  and  good  government. 

The  Quaker  revered  principles,  not  men ;  truth,  not  pow- 
er; and  therefore  could  not  become  the  tool  of  ambition. 
"  They  are  a  people,"  said  Cromwell,  "  whom  I  cannot  win 
with  gifts,  honors,  offices,  or  places."  Still  less  was  the 
Quaker  a  slave  to  avarice.  To  him  the  love  of  money  for 
money's  sake  was  the  basest  of  passions,  and  the  rage  of  indefi- 
nite accumulation  was  "  oppression  to  the  poor,  compelling 
those  who  have  little  to  drudge  like  slaves,"     "  That  the 


54:0    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660   TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xv. 

gweat  and  tedious  labor  of  the  husbandmen,  early  and  late, 
cold  and  hot,  wet  and  dry,  should  be  converted  into  the  pleas- 
ure, ease,  and  pastime  of  a  small  number  of  men,  that  the 
cart,  the  plough,  the  thresh,  should  be  in  inordinate  severity 
laid  upon  nineteen  parts  of  the  land  to  feed  the  appetites  of 
the  twentieth,  is  far  from  the  appointment  of  the  great  gov- 
ernor of  the  world."  It  is  best  the  people  be  neither  rich 
nor  poor ;  for  riches  bring  luxury,  and  luxury  tyranny. 

The  system  aimed  at  a  reformation  of  society,  but  only  by 
means  addressed  to  conscience.  It  demanded  that  children 
should  be  brought  up,  not  in  the  pride  of  caste,  still  less  by 
methods  of  violence.  Life  should  never  be  taken  for  an 
offence  against  property,  nor  the  person  imprisoned  for  debt. 
And  the  same  train  of  reasoning  led  to  a  protest  against  war. 
The  Quaker,  for  himseK,  renounced  the  use  of  the  sword ; 
but,  aware  that  the  vices  of  society  might  entail  danger  on  a 
nation  not  imbued  with  his  principles,  he  did  not  absolutely 
deny  to  others  the  right  of  defence,  while  he  hoped  from  the 
progress  of  civilization  a  universal  and  enduring  peace. 

The  Quaker  regarded  "  the  substance  of  things,"  and  broke 
up  ceremonies  as  the  nests  of  superstition.  Every  Protestant 
refuses  the  rosary  and  the  censer;  the  Quaker  rejects  com- 
mon prayer,  and  his  adoration  of  God  is  the  free  language 
of  his  soul.  He  remembers  the  sufferings  of  divine  philan- 
thropy, but  uses  neither  wafer  nor  cup.  He  trains  up  his 
children  to  fear  God,  but  never  sprinkles  them  with  baptis- 
mal water.  He  ceases  from  labor  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
for  the  ease  of  creation,  and  not  from  reverence  for  a  holy 
day.  The  Quaker  is  a  pilgrim  on  earth,  and  life  is  the  ship 
that  bears  him  to  the  haven ;  he  mourns  in  his  mind  for  the 
departure  of  friends  by  respecting  their  advice,  taking  care 
of  their  children,  and  loving  those  that  they  loved ;  and  this 
seems  better  than  outward  emblems  of  sorrowing.  His  words 
are  always  freighted  with  innocence  and  truth ;  God,  the 
searcher  of  hearts,  is  the  witness  to  his  sincerity ;  but  kissing 
a  book  or  lifting  a  hand  is  a  vanity,  and  the  sense  of  duty 
cannot  be  increased  by  an  imprecation. 

The  Quaker  distrusts  the  fine  arts,  they  are  so  easily  per- 
verted to  the  purposes  of  superstition  and  the  delight  of  the 


QUAKERS  m  THE   UNITED   STATES.  541 

senses;  yet,  when  they  are  allied  with  virtue,  and  express 
the  nobler  sentiments,  they  are  very  sweet  and  refreshing. 
The  comedy  where,  of  old,  Aristophanes  excited  the  Athe- 
nians to  hate  Socrates,  and  where  the  profligate  gallants  of  the 
court  of  Charles  II.  assembled  to  hear  the  drollery  of  Nell 
Gwyn  heap  ridicule  on  the  Quakers,  was  condemned.  But 
innocent  diversions,  the  delights  of  rural  life,  the  pursuits  of 
science,  the  study  of  history,  would  not  interfere  with  aspira- 
tions after  God.  For  apparel,  the  Quaker  dresses  soberly,  ac- 
cording to  his  condition  and  education ;  far  from  prescribing 
an  unchanging  fashion,  he  holds  it  "  no  vanity  to  use  what  the 
country  naturally  produces,"  but  he  reproves  that  extravagance 
which  "  all  sober  men  of  all  sorts  readily  grant  to  be  evil." 

Like  vanities  of  dress,  the  artifices  of  rhetoric  were  de- 
spised. Truth,  it  was  said,  is  beautiful  enough  in  plain 
clothes ;  and  Penn,  who  was  able  to  write  exceedingly  well, 
often  forgot  that  style  is  the  gossamer  on  which  the  seeds  of 
truth  float  through  the  world. 

The  Quakers  employ  for  the  propagation  of  truth  no 
weapons  but  those  of  mind.  They  distributed  tracts;  but 
they  would  not  sustain  their  doctrine  by  a  hireling  ministry, 
saying :  "  A  man  thou  hast  corrupted  to  thy  interests  will 
never  be  faithful  to  them  ; "  and  an  established  church  seemed 
*'  a  cage  for  unclean  birds."  When  a  great  high-priest,  who 
was  a  doctor,  had  finished  preaching  from  the  words,  "Ho 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  buy  without  money,"  George 
Fox  "  was  moved  of  the  Lord  to  say  to  him,  ^  Come  down, 
thou  deceiver !  Dost  thou  bid  people  come  to  the  waters  of 
life  freely,  and  yet  thou  takest  three  hundred  pounds  a  year 
of  them  ? '  The  Spirit  is  a  free  teacher."  The  Quaker  never 
would  pay  tithes. 

To  persecute,  he  esteemed  a  confession  of  a  bad  cause ;  for 
the  design  that  is  of  God  has  confidence  in  itself,  and  knows 
that  any  other  will  vanish.  "  Your  cruelties  are  a  confirma- 
tion that  truth  is  not  on  your  side,"  was  the  remonstrance  of 
a  woman  of  Aberdeen  to  the  magistrates  who  had  imprisoned 
her  husband. 

In  like  manner,  the  Quaker  never  employed  force  to  effect 
a  social  revolution  or  reform,  but,  refusing  obedience  to  wrong, 


542     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xv. 

deprived  tyranny  of  its  instruments.  The  Quaker's  loyalty, 
said  the  earl  of  Arrol  at  Aberdeen,  is  a  qualified  loyalty ;  it 
smells  of  rebellion :  to  which  Alexander  Skein,  brother  to  a 
subsequent  governor  of  West  New  Jersey,  calmly  answered : 
"  I  understand  not  loyalty  that  is  not  qualified  with  the  fear 
of  God  rather  than  of  man."  The  Quaker  bore  witness 
against  blind  obedience  not  less  than  against  will  worship. 
He  never  consented  to  the  slightest  compromise  of  the  right 
of  free  discussion.  Wherever  there  was  evil  and  oppression, 
he  claimed  the  right  to  be  present  with  a  remonstrance.  He 
delivered  his  opinions  freely  before  Cromwell  and  Charles 
II.,  in  face  of  the  gallows  in  New  England,  in  the  streets  of 
London,  before  the  English  commons.  This  was  his  method 
of  resistance.  Algernon  Sidney,  like  Brutus,  would  have 
plunged  a  dagger  into  the  breast  of  a  tyrant;  the  Quaker 
labored  incessantly  to  advance  reform  by  enlightening  the 
public  conscience.  Any  other  method  of  revolution  he  be- 
lieved an  impossibility.  Government — such  was  his  belief 
— will  always  be  as  the  people  are ;  and  a  people  imbued 
with  the  love  of  liberty  create  the  irresistible  necessity  of 
a  free  government.  He  sought  no  revolution  but  that  which 
followed  as  the  consequence  of  the  public  intelligence.  Such 
revolutions  were  inevitable.  "  Though  men  consider  it  not, 
the  Lord  rules  and  overrules  in  the  kingdoms  of  men." 
Any  other  revolution  would  be  transient.  The  Quakers  sub- 
mitted to  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  as  the  best  arrange- 
ment for  the  crisis,  confident  that  time  and  truth  would  lead 
to  a  happier  issue.  "  The  best  frame,  in  ill  hands,  can  do 
nothing  that  is  great  and  good.  Governments,  like  clocks, 
go  from  the  motion  imparted  to  them  ;  they  depend  on  men 
rather  than  men  on  government.  Let  men  be  good,  the  gov- 
ernment cannot  be  bad  ;  if  it  be  ill,  they  will  cure  it."  Even 
with  absolute  power,  an  Antouine  or  an  Alfred  could  not 
make  bricks  without  straw,  nor  the  sword  do  more  than  sub- 
stitute one  tyranny  for  another. 

No  Quaker  book  has  a  trace  of  skepticism  on  man's  ca- 
pacity for  progress.  For  him  the  moral  power  of  ideas  is 
constantly  effecting  improvement  in  society.  By  an  honest 
profession  of  truth,  the  humblest   person,  if   single-minded 


QUAKERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  543 

and  firm,  "  can  shake  all  the  country  for  ten  miles  round." 
The  Inner  Light  is  an  invincible  power.  It  is  a  power  which 
never  changes ;  such  was  the  message  of  Fox  to  the  pope, 
the  kings,  and  nobles  of  all  sorts ;  it  fathoms  the  world,  and 
throws  down  that  which  is  contrary  to  it.  It  quenches 
fire ;  it  daunts  wild  beasts ;  it  turns  aside  the  edge  of  the 
sword ;  it  outfaces  instruments  of  cruelty ;  it  converts  exe- 
cutioners. It  was  remembered  with  exultation  that  the  en- 
franchisements of  Christianity  were  the  result  of  faith,  and 
not  of  the  sword ;  and  that  truth  in  its  simplicity,  radiating 
from  the  foot  of  the  cross,  has  filled  a  world  of  sensualists 
with  astonishment,  overthrown  their  altars,  discredited  their 
oracles,  infused  itself  into  the  soul  of  the  multitude,  invaded 
the  court,  risen  superior  to  armies,  and  led  magistrates  and 
priests,  statesmen  and  generals,  in  its  train,  as  the  trophies  of 
its  strength  exerted  in  freedom. 

Thus  the  Quaker  was  cheered  by  a  firm  belief  in  the  prog- 
ress of  society.  Even  Aristotle,  so  many  centuries  ago,  rec- 
ognised the  upward  tendency  in  human  affairs ;  a  Jewish 
contemporary  of  Barclay  made  note  of  the  tendency  toward 
popular  power  ;  George  Fox  perceived  that  the  Lord's  hand 
was  against  kings ;  and  one  day,  on  the  hills  of  Yorkshire, 
he  had  a  vision  that  he  was  but  beginning  the  glorious  work 
of  God  in  the  earth ;  that  his  followers  would  in  time  be- 
come as  numerous  as  motes  in  the  sunbeams ;  and  that  the 
party  of  humanity  would  gather  the  whole  human  race  in 
one  sheepfold.  Neither  art,  wisdom,  nor  violence,  said  Bar- 
clay, conscious  of  the  vitality  of  truth,  shall  quench  the  little 
spark  that  hath  appeared.  The  atheist — such  was  the  common 
opinion  of  the  Quakers — the  atheist  alone  denies  progress,  and 
says  in  his  heart :  All  things  continue  as  they  were  in  the 
beginning. 

If  from  the  rules  of  private  morality  we  turn  to  political 
institutions,  here  also  the  principle  of  the  Quaker  is  the  Inner 
Light.  He  acquiesces  in  any  established  government  which 
shall  build  its  laws  upon  the  declarations  of  "  universal  reason." 
But  government  is  a  part  of  his  religion  ;  and  the  religion 
that  declares  *'  every  man  enlightened  by  the  divine  light "  es- 
tablishes government  on  universal  and  equal  enfranchisement. 


544    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  xr. 

"  Not  one  of  mankind,"  says  Penn,  "  is  exempted  from 
this  illumination."  "  God  discovers  himself  to  every  man." 
He  is  in  every  breast,  in  the  ignorant  drudge  as  well  as  in 
Locke  or  Leibnitz.  Every  moral  truth  exists  in  every  man's 
and  woman's  heart  as  an  incorruptible  seed ;  the  ground  may 
be  barren,  but  the  seed  is  certainly  there.  Every  man  is  a 
little  sovereign  to  himself.  Freedom  is  as  old  as  reason  itself, 
which  is  given  to  all,  constant  and  eternal,  the  same  to  all 
nations.  The  Quaker  is  no  materialist ;  truth  and  conscience 
are  not  one  thing  at  Rome,  and  another  at  Athens ;  they 
cannot  be  abrogated  by  senate  or  people.  Freedom  and  the 
right  of  property  were  in  the  world  before  Protestantism ; 
they  came  not  with  Luther ;  they  do  not  vanish  with  Calvin ; 
they  are  the  common  privilege  of  mankind. 

The  Bible  enfranchises  those  only  to  whom  it  is  carried  ; 
Christianity,  those  only  to  whom  it  is  made  known  ;  the 
creed  of  a  sect,  those  only  within  its  narrow  pale.  The 
Quaker,  resting  his  system  on  the  Inner  Light,  redeems 
the  race.  Of  those  who  believe  in  the  necessity  of  faith  in 
an  outward  religion,  some  have  cherished  the  mild  super- 
stition that,  in  the  hour  of  dissolution,  an  angel  is  sent  from 
heaven  "  to  manifest  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  passion  ; "  the 
Quaker  believes  that  the  heavenly  messenger  is  always  pres- 
ent in  the  breast  of  every  man,  ready  to  counsel  the  willing 
listener. 

Man  is  equal  to  his  fellow-man.  No  class  can,  "  by  long 
apprenticeship"  or  a  prelate's  breath,  by  wearing  black  or 
shaving  the  crown,  obtain  a  monopoly  of  moral  truth.  There 
is  no  distinction  of  clergy  and  laity. 

The  Inner  Light  sheds  its  blessings  on  the  whole  human 
race ;  it  knows  no  distinction  of  sex.  It  redeems  woman  by 
the  dignity  of  her  moral  nature,  and  claims  for  her  the  equal 
culture  and  free  exercise  of  her  endowments.  As  the  human 
race  ascends  the  steep  acclivity  of  improvement,  the  Quaker 
cherishes  woman  as  the  equal  companion  of  the  journey. 

Nor  does  he  know  an  abiding  distinction  of  king  and  sub- 
ject. The  universality  of  the  Inner  Light  "  brings  crowns  to 
the  dust,  and  lays  them  low  and  level  with  the  earth."  "  The 
Lord  will  be  king ;  there  will  be  no  crowns  but  to  such  as 


QUAKERS  m  THE   UNITED   STATES.  545 

obey  his  will."  "With  God  a  thousand  years  are  indeed  as  one 
day ;  yet  judgment  on  tyrants  will  come  at  last,  and  may  come 
ere  long. 

Every  man  has  God  in  the  conscience;  therefore  the 
Quaker  knows  no  distinction  of  castes.  He  bows  to  God,  and 
not  to  his  fellow-servant.  "  All  men  are  alike  by  creation," 
says  Barclay ;  and  it  is  slavish  fear  which  reverences  others  as 
gods.  "  I  am  a  man,"  says  every  Quaker,  and  refuses  homage. 
The  most  favored  of  his  race,  even  though  endowed  with  the 
gifts  and  glories  of  an  angel,  he  would  regard  but  as  his  fel- 
low-servant and  his  brother.  The  feudal  nobility  still  nour- 
ished its  pride.  "  Nothing,"  says  Penn,  "  nothing  of  man's 
folly  has  less  show  of  reason  to  palliate  it."  "  What  a  pother 
has  this  noble  blood  made  in  the  world ! "  '^  But  men  of 
blood  have  no  marks  of  honor  stampt  upon  them  by  nature." 
The  Quaker  scorned  to  take  off  his  hat  to  any  of  them  ;  he 
held  himself  the  peer  of  the  proudest  peer  in  Christendom. 
With  the  eastern  despotism  of  Diocletian,  Europe  had  learned 
the  hyperboles  of  eastern  adulation  ;  but  "  My  Lord  Peter  and 
My  Lord  Paul  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  Bible ;  My  Lord 
Solon  or  Lord  Scipio  is  not  to  be  read  in  Greek  or  Latin 
stories."  And  the  Quaker  returned  to  the  simplicity  of  Grac- 
chus and  Demosthenes,  though  "Thee  and  Thou  proved  a 
sore  cut  to  proud  flesh."  This  was  not  done  for  want  of  cour- 
tesy, which  "  no  religion  destroys ; "  but  he  knew  that  the  hat 
was  the  symbol  of  enfranchisement,  worn  before  the  king  by 
the  peers  of  the  realm,  in  token  of  equality ;  and  the  symbol, 
as  adopted  by  the  Quaker,  was  a  constant  proclamation  that 
all  men  are  equal. 

Thus  the  doctrine  of  George  Fox  was  not  only  a  plebeian 
form  of  philosophy,  but  the  prophecy  of  political  changes. 
The  spirit  that  made  to  him  the  revelation  was  the  invisible 
spirit  of  the  age,  rendered  wise  by  tradition,  and  excited  to 
insurrection  by  the  enthusiasm  of  liberty  and  religion.  Every- 
where in  Europe,  therefore,  the  Quakers  were  exposed  to  per- 
secution. Their  seriousness  was  called  melancholy  fanaticism  ; 
their  boldness,  self-will;  their  frugality,  covetousness ;  their 
freedom,  infidelity  ;  their  conscience,  rebellion.  In  England, 
the  general  laws  against  dissent,  the  statute  against  the  papist, 


546     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     part  ii.  ,•  oh.  xv. 

and  special  statutes  against  themselves,  put  them  at  the  mercy 
of  every  malignant  informer.  They  were  hated  by  the  church 
and  the  Presbyterians,  by  the  peers  and  the  king.  The  codes 
of  that  day  describe  them  as  "  an  abominable  sect ; "  "  their 
principles  as  inconsistent  with  any  kind  of  government." 
During  the  Long  Parliament,  in  the  time  of  the  protectorate, 
at  the  restoration,  in  England,  in  'New  England,  in  the  Dutch 
colony  of  New  ISTetherland,  everywhere,  and  for  wearisome 
years,  they  were  exposed  to  perpetual  dangers  and  griefs; 
they  were  whipped,  crowded  into  jails  among  felons,  kept  in 
dungeons  foul  and  gloomy  beyond  imagination,  lined,  exiled, 
sold  into  colonial  bondage.  They  bore  the  brunt  of  the  perse- 
cution of  the  dissenters.  Imprisoned  in  winter  without  fire, 
they  perished  from  frost.  Some  were  victims  to  the  barbar- 
ous cruelty  of  the  jailer.  Twice  George  Fox  narrowly  escaped 
death.  The  despised  people  braved  every  danger  to  continue 
their  assemblies.  Hauled  out  by  violence,  they  returned. 
When  their  meeting-houses  were  torn  down,  they  gathered 
openly  on  the  ruins.  They  could  not  be  dissolved  by  armed 
men ;  and  when  their  opposers  took  shovels  to  throw  rubbish 
on  them,  they  stood  close  together,  "  willing  to  have  been 
buried  alive,  witnessing  for  the  Lord."  They  were  exceeding 
great  sufferers  for  their  profession,  and  in  some  cases  treated 
worse  than  the  worst  of  the  race.  They  were  as  poor  sheep 
appointed  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  people  killed  all  day 
long. 

Is  it  strange  that  they  looked  beyond  the  Atlantic  for  a 
refuge?  When  New  Netherland  was  recovered  from  the 
United  Provinces,  Berkeley  and  Carteret  entered  again  into 
possession  of  their  portion  of  it.  For  Berkeley,  already  a  very 
old  man,  the  visions  of  colonial  fortune  had  not  been  realized ; 
there  was  nothing  before  him  but  contests  for  quit-rents  with 
settlers  resolved  on  governing  themselves ;  and  in  March, 
1674,  a  few  months  after  the  return  of  George  Fox  from  his 
pilgrimage  to  all  our  colonies  from  Carolina  to  Rhode  Island, 
the  haughty  peer,  for  a  thousand  pounds,  sold  the  half  of  New 
Jersey  to  Quakers,  to  John  Fenwick  in  trust  for  Edward  Byl- 
linge  and  his  assigns.  A  dispute  between  Byllinge  and  Fen- 
wick was  allayed  by  the  benevolent  decision  of  William  Penn ; 


1674-1678.       QUAKERS  m   THE  UNITED   STATES.  547 

and,  in  1675,  Fenwick,  with  a  large  company  and  several 
families,  set  sail  in  the  Griffith  for  the  asylum  of  Friends. 
Ascending  the  Delaware,  he  landed  on  a  pleasant,  fertile  spot ; 
and,  as  the  outward  world  easily  takes  the  hues  of  men's 
minds,  he  called  the  place  Salem,  for  it  seemed  the  dwelling- 
place  of  peace. 

Byllinge  was  embarrassed  in  his  fortunes ;  Gawen  Laurie, 
William  Penn,  and  Nicholas  Lucas  became  his  assigns  as  trus- 
tees for  his  creditors,  and  shares  in  the  undivided  moiety  of ^ 
IN^ew  Jeresy  were  offered  for  sale.  As  an  affair  of  property,  it 
was  like  land  companies  of  to-day,  except  that  in  those  days 
speculators  bought  acres  by  the  hundred  thousand.  But  the 
Quakers  desired  a  territory  where  they  could  institute  a  gov- 
ernment ;  and  Carteret,  in  August,  1676,  readily  agreed  to  a 
division,  for  they  left  him  the  best  of  the  bargain. 

And,  now  that  the  men  who  had  gone  about  to  turn  the 
world  upside  down  were  possessed  of  a  province,  what  system 
of  politics  would  they  adopt  ?  The  light  that  lighteth  every 
man  shone  brightly  in  the  pilgrims  of  Plymouth,  in  the  Cal- 
vinists  with  Hooker  and  Haynes,  and  in  the  freemen  of  Yir- 
ginia  when  the  transient  abolition  of  monarchy  compelled  even 
royalists  to  look  from  the  throne  to  a  surer  guide  in  the  heart ; 
the  Quakers,  Mlowing  the  same  exalted  instincts,  could  but 
renew  the  fundamental  legislation  of  the  men  of  the  May- 
flower, of  Hartford,  and  of  the  Old  Dominion.  "  The  con- 
cessions are  such  as  Friends  approve  of ; "  this  is  the  message 
of  the  Quaker  proprietaries  in  England  to  the  few  who  had 
emigrated :  "  We  lay  a  foundation  for  after  ages  to  understand 
their  liberty  as  Christians  and  as  men,  that  they  may  not  be 
brought  into  bondage  but  by  their  own  consent ;  for  we  put 
THE  POWER  IN  THE  PEOPLE."  And  OH  the  third  day  of  March, 
1 677,  the  fundamental  laws  of  West  Kew  Jersey  were  per- 
fected and  published.  They  are  written  with  almost  as  much 
method  as  our  present  constitutions,  and  recognise  the  princi- 
ple of  democratic  equality  as  unconditionally  and  universally 
as  the  Quaker  society  itself. 

No  man,  nor  number  of  men,  hath  power  over  conscience. 
No  person  shall  at  any  time,  in  any  ways,  or  on  any  pretence, 
be  called  in  question,  or  in  the  least  punished  or  hurt  for  opin- 


548    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xv. 

ion  in  religion.  The  general  assembly  shall  be  chosen,  not  by 
the  confused  way  of  cries  and  voices,  but  by  the  balloting-box. 
Every  man  is  capable  to  choose  or  be  chosen.  The  electors 
shall  give  their  respective  deputies  instructions  at  large,  which 
these,  in  their  turn,  by  indentures  under  hand  and  seal,  shall 
bind  themselves  to  obey.  The  disobedient  deputy  may  be 
questioned  before  the  assembly  by  any  one  of  his  electors. 
Each  member  is  to  be  allowed  one  shilling  a  day,  to  be  paid 
by  his  immediate  constituents,  "  that  he  may  be  known  as  the 
servant  of  the  people."  The  executive  power  rested  with  ten 
commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the  assembly ;  justices  and 
constables  were  chosen  directly  by  the  people ;  the  judges,  ap- 
pointed by  the  general  assembly,  retained  office  but  two  years 
at  the  most,  and  sat  in  the  courts  but  as  assistants  to  the  jury. 
In  the  twelve  men,  and  in  them  only,  judgment  resides ;  in 
them  and  in  the  general  assembly  rests  discretion  as  to  punish- 
ments. "  All  and  every  person  in  the  province  shall,  by  the 
help  of  the  Lord  and  these  fundamentals,  be  free  from  oppres- 
sion and  slavery."  No  man  can  be  imprisoned  for  debt. 
Courts  were  to  be  managed  without  the  necessity  of  an  attor- 
ney or  counsellor.  The  native  was  protected  against  encroach- 
ments ;  the  helpless  orphan  educated  by  the  state. 

Immediately  the  English  Quakers,  with  the  good  wishes  of 
Charles  II.,  flocked  to  West  New  Jersey ;  and  commissioners, 
possessing  a  temporary  authority,  were  sent  to  administer 
affairs  till  a  popular  government  could  be  instituted.  When 
the  vessel,  freighted  with  the  men  of  peace,  arrived  in  Amer- 
ica, Andros,  the  governor  of  New  York,  claimed  jurisdiction 
over  their  territory.  The  claim,  which,  on  the  feudal  system, 
was  perhaps  a  just  one,  was  compromised  as  a  present  ques- 
tion, and  referred  for  decision  to  England.  Meantime  lands 
were  purchased  of  the  Indians ;  the  planters  numbered  nearly 
four  hundred  souls ;  and,  already  at  Burlington,  under  a  tent 
covered  with  sail-cloth,  the  Quakers  began  to  hold  religious 
meetings.  The  Indian  kings,  in  1678,  gathered  in  council  un- 
der the  shades  of  the  Burlington  forests,  and  declared  their 
joy  at  the  prospect  of  permanent  peace.  "  You  are  our  broth- 
ers," said  the  sachems,  "  and  we  will  live  like  brothers  with 
you.     We  will  have  a  broad  path  for  you  and  us  to  walk  in. 


1678-1681.       QUAKERS  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  549 

If  an  Englishman  falls  asleep  in  this  path,  the  Indian  shall 
pass  him  by,  and  say,  He  is  an  Englishman  ;  he  is  asleep ;  let 
him  alone.  The  path  shall  be  plain ;  there  shall  not  be  in  it  a 
stiimp  to  hurt  the  feet." 

Everything  augured  success  to  the  colony,  but  that,  at 
Newcastle,  the  agent  of  the  duke  of  York,  who  still  possessed 
Delaware,  exacted  customs  of  the  ships  ascending  to  New 
Jersey.  It  may  have  been  honestly  believed  that  his  jurisdic- 
tion included  the  whole  river;  when  urgent  remonstrances 
were  made,  the  duke  referred  the  question  to  a  disinterested 
commission,  before  which  the  Quakers  reasoned  thus : 

"  An  express  grant  of  the  powers  of  government  induced 
us  to  buy  the  moiety  of  Kew  Jersey.  If  we  could  not  assure 
people  of  an  easy,  free,  and  safe  government,  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  an  inviolable  possession  of  their  civil  rights  and 
freedoms,  a  mere  wilderness  would  be  no  encouragement.  It 
were  madness  to  leave  a  free  country  to  plant  a  wilderness, 
and  give  another  person  an  absolute  title  to  tax  us  at  will. 

"  The  customs  imposed  by  the  government  of  New  York 
are  not  a  burden  only,"  but  a  wrong.  By  what  right  are  we 
thus  used  ?  The  king  of  England  cannot  take  his  subjects' 
goods  without  their  consent.  This  is  a  home-born  right,  de- 
clared to  be  law  by  divers  statutes. 

"  To  give  up  the  right  of  making  laws  is  to  change  the 
government  and  resign  ourselves  to  the  will  of  another.  The 
land  belongs  to  the  natives ;  of  the  duke  we  buy  nothing  but 
the  right  of  an  undisturbed  colonizing,  with  the  expectation 
of  some  increase  of  the  freedoms  enjoyed  in  our  native  coun- 
try.    We  have  not  lost  English  liberty  by  leaving  England. 

"  The  tax  is  a  surprise  on  the  planter ;  it  is  paying  for  the 
same  thing  twice  over.  Custom,  levied  upon  planting,  is  un- 
precedented. Besides,  there  is  no  end  of  this  power.  By  this 
precedent,  we  are  assessed  without  law,  and  excluded  from 
our  English  right  of  common  assent  to  taxes.  We  can  call 
nothing  our  own,  but  are  tenants  at  will,  not  for  the  soil  only, 
but  for  our  personal  estates.  Such  conduct  has  destroyed  gov- 
ernment, but  never  raised  one  to  true  greatness. 

"Lastly,  to  exact  such  unterminated  tax  from  English 
planters,  and  to  continue  it  after  so  many  repeated  complaints, 


550    BRITISH  AMEKICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    part  ii. ;  ch.  xv. 

will  be  the  greatest  evidence  of  a  design  to  introduce,  if  the 
crown  should  ever  devolve  upon  the  duke,  an  unlimited  gov- 
ernment in  England." 

This  argument  of  the  Quakers  was  triumphant.  Sir  Will- 
iam Jones  decided  that,  as  the  grant  from  the  duke  of  York 
had  reserved  no  profit  or  jurisdiction^  the  tax  was  illegal.  The 
duke  of  York  promptly  acquiesced  in  the  decision,  and  in  a 
new  indenture  of  August,  1680,  relinquished  every  claim  to 
the  territory  and  the  government. 

After  such  trials,  vicissitudes,  and  success,  the  light  of 
peace  dawned  upon  West  New  Jersey ;  and,  in  November, 
1681,  Jennings,  acting  as  governor  for  the  proprietaries,  con- 
vened the  first  legislative  assembly  of  the  representatives  of 
men  who  said  thee  and  thou  to  all  the  world,  and  wore  their 
hats  in  the  presence  of  beggar  or  king.  Their  first  measures 
established  their  rights  by  an  act  of  fundamental  legislation, 
and,  in  the  spirit  of  "  the  concessions,"  they  framed  their  gov- 
ernment on  the  basis  of  humanity.  Neither  faith,  nor  wealth, 
nor  race  was  respected.  They  met  in  the  wilderness  as  men, 
and  founded  society  on  equal  rights.  What  shall  we  relate  of 
a  community  thus  organized  ?  That  they  multiplied,  and  were 
happy  ?  that  they  levied  for  the  expenses  of  their  common- 
wealth two  hundred  pounds,  to  be  paid  in  corn,  or  skins,  or 
money?  that  they  voted  the  governor  a  salary  of  twenty 
pounds  ?  that  they  prohibited  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  to  the 
Indians?  that  they  forbade  imprisonment  for  debt?  The 
formation  of  this  little  government  of  a  few  hundred  souls, 
that  soon  increased  to  thousands,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
incidents  in  the  history  of  the  age.  West  New  Jersey  would 
have  been  a  fit  home  for  Fenelon.  The  people  rejoiced  under 
the  reign  of  God,  confident  that  he  would  beautify  the  meek 
with  salvation.  A  loving  correspondence  began  with  Friends 
in  England,  and  from  the  fathers  of  the  sect  frequent  messages 
were  received.  "  Friends  that  are  gone  to  make  plantations 
in  America,  keep  the  plantations  in  your  hearts,  that  your  own 
vines  and  lilies  be  not  hurt.  You  that  are  governors  and 
judges,  you  should  be  eyes  to  the  blind,  feet  to  the  lame,  and 
fathers  to  the  poor ;  that  you  may  gain  the  blessing  of  those 
who  are  ready  to  perish,  and  cause  the  widow's  heart  to  sing 


1681-1682.       QUAKERS   IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  551 

for  gladness.  If  you  rejoice  because  your  hand  hath  gotten 
much ;  if  you  say  to  fine  gold,  Thou  art  my  confidence — ^you 
will  have  denied  the  God  that  is  above.  The  Lord  is  ruler 
among  nations ;  he  will  crown  his  people  with  dominion." 

In  the  midst  of  this  innocent  tranquillity,  By  Hinge,  the 
original  grantee  of  Berkeley,  claimed  as  proprietary  the  right 
of  nominating  the  deputy  governor.  The  usurpation  was  re- 
sisted. Byllinge  grew  importunate  ;  and  the  Quakers,  setting 
a  new  precedent,  amended  their  constitutions  according  to  the 
prescribed  method,  and  then  elected  a  governor.  This  method 
of  reform  was  the  advice  of  William  Penn. 

For  in  the  mean  time  William  Penn  had  become  deeply 
interested  in  the  progress  of  civilization  on  the  Delaware.  In 
company  with  eleven  others,  he  had  purchased  East  ITew  Jer- 
sey of  the  heirs  of  Carteret.  But  of  the  eastern  moiety  of 
'New  Jersey,  peopled  chiefly  by  Puritans,  the  history  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  of  New  York.  The  line  that 
divides  East  and  West  New  Jersey  is  the  line  where  the  influ- 
ence of  the  humane  society  of  Friends  is  merged  in  that  of 
Puritanism. 


652    BRITISH  AMERICA  FEOM  1660  TO   1688.    past  ii. ;  ch.  xvi. 


0.^ 


CHAPTEE   XYL 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

It  was  for  the  grant  of  a  territory  on  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  Delaware  that  William  Penn,  in  June,  1680,  became  a 
suitor.  His  father,  distinguished  in  English  history  by  the 
conquest  of  Jamaica,  and  by  his  conduct,  discretion,  and  cour- 
age, in  the  signal  battle  against  the  Dutch  in  1665,  had  be- 
queathed to  him  a  claim  on  the  government  for  sixteen  thou- 
sand pounds.  To  Charles  II.,  always  embarrassed  for  money, 
the  grant  of  a  province  was  the  easiest  mode  of  cancelling  the 
debt.  Penn  had  friends  in  ]S"orth,  Halifax,  and  Sunderland  ; 
and  a  pledge  given  to  his  father  on  his  death-bed  obtained  for 
him  the  favor  of  the  duke  of  York.  With  such  support,  he 
triumphed  over  "  great  opposition,"  and  obtained  a  charter  for 
the  territory,  which  received  from  Charles  II.  the  name  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  to  include  three  degrees  of  latitude  by 
five  degrees  of  longitude  west  from  the  Delaware.  The  duke 
of  York  desired  to  retain  the  three  lower  counties — that  is, 
the  state  of  Delaware — as  an  appendage  to  Kew  York ;  Penn- 
sylvania was,  therefore,  in  that  direction,  limited  by  a  circle 
drawn  at  twelve  miles'  distance  from  I^ewcastle,  northward 
and  westward,  to  the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree  of  lat- 
itude. This  impossible  boundary  received  the  assent  of  the 
agents  of  the  duke  of  York  and  Lord  Baltimore. 

The  charter,  as  originally  drawn  up  by  William  Penn  him- 
self, conceded  powers  of  government  analogous  to  those  of  the 
charter  for  Maryland.  That  nothing  might  be  at  variance 
with  English  law,  it  was  revised  by  the  attorney-general,  and 
amended  by  Lord  North,  who  inserted  clauses  to  guard  the 
sovereignty  of  the  king  and  the  commercial  supremacy  of  par- 


1680-1681.  PENNSYLVANIA.  653 

liament.  The  acts  of  the  future  colonial  legislature  were  to 
be  submitted  to  the  king  and  council,  who  might  annul  them 
if  contrary,  to  English  law.  The  right  to  levy  customs  was 
expressly  reserved  to  parliament.  The  bishop  of  London, 
quite  unnecessarily,  required  security  for  the  English  church. 
The  people  were  to  be  safe  against  taxation,  except  by  the 
provincial  assembly  or  the  English  parKament.  In  other  re- 
spects, the  usual  franchises  of  a  feudal  proprietary  were  con- 
ceded. 

At  length,  writes  William  Penn,  on  the  fifth  of  March, 
1681,  "  after  many  waitings,  watchings,  solicitings,  and  dis- 
putes in  council,  my  country  was  confirmed  to  me  under  the 
great  seal  of  England.  God  will  bless  and  make  it  the  seed  of 
a  nation.  I  shall  have  a  tender  care  of  the  government,  that 
it  be  well  laid  at  first." 

Pennsylvania  included  the  principal  settlements  of  the 
Swedes ;  and  lands  which  had  been  granted  to  Dutch  and 
English  by  the  Dutch  West  India  company  and  by  the  duke 
of  York.  The  royal  proclamation  of  the  second  of  April 
announced  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  that  William 
Penn,  their  absolute  proprietary,  was  invested  with  all 
powers  and  pre-eminences  necessary  for  the  government. 
The  proprietary  issued  a  proclamation  in  the  following 
words : 

"  My  Friends  :  I  wish  you  all  happiness  here  and  here- 
after. These  are  to  lett  you  know,  that  it  hath  pleased  God  in 
his  Providence  to  cast  you  within  my  Lott  and  Care.  It  is  a 
business,  that  though  I  never  undertook  before,  yet  God  has 
given  me  an  understanding  of  my  duty  and  an  honest  minde 
to  doe  it  uprightly.  I  hope  you  will  not  be  troubled  at  your 
chainge  and  the  king's  choice ;  for  you  are  now  fixt,  at  the 
mercy  of  no  Governour  that  comes  to  make  his  fortune  great. 
You  shall  be  governed  by  laws  of  your  own  makeing,  aud  live 
a  free,  and  if  you  will,  a  sober  and  industreous  People.  I  shall 
not  usurp  the  right  of  any,  or  oppress  his  person.  God  has 
furnisht  me  with  a  better  resolution,  and  has  given  me  his  grace 
to  keep  it.  In  short,  whatever  sober  and  free  men  can  reason- 
ably desire  for  the  security  and  improvement  of  their  own  hap- 
piness, I  shall  heartily  comply  with.     I  beseech  God  to  direct 

VOL.  I.— 37 


554    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.    pabt  ii.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

jou   in   the  way  of   righteousness,  and  therein  prosper  you 
and  your  children  after  you.     I  am  your  true  Friend, 

"  Wm.  Penn. 
"London,  8th  of  the  month  called  April,  1681." 

Such  were  the  pledges  of  the  Quaker  sovereign  on  assum- 
ing the  government;  during  his  long  reign,  these  pledges 
were  faithfully  redeemed.  He  never  refused  the  free  men  of 
Pennsylvania  a  reasonable  desire. 

With  this  letter  to  the  inhabitants,  William  Markham 
Bailed  in  May  as  agent  of  the  proprietary.  He  was  to  gov- 
ern in  harmony  with  law,  and  the  people  were  requested  to 
continue  the  established  system  of  revenue  till  Penn  him- 
self could  reach  America.  In  July,  the  conditions  for  the  sale 
of  lands  were  reciprocally  ratified  by  Penn  and  a  company  of 
adventurers.  The  enterprise  of  planting  a  province  would 
have  been  vast  for  a  man  of  large  fortune ;  Penn's  estate  had 
yielded,  when  unencumbered,  a  revenue  of  fifteen  hundred 
pounds ;  but,  in  his  zeal  to  rescue  his  suffering  brethren  from 
persecution,  he  had,  by  heavy  expenses  in  courts  of  law  and 
at  court,  impaired  his  resources.  In  August,  a  company  of 
traders  offered  six  thousand  pounds  and  an  annual  revenue 
for  a  monopoly  of  the  Indian  traffic  between  the  Delaware 
and  the  Susquehannah.  To  a  father  of  a  family,  in  strait- 
ened circumstances,  the  temptation  was  great ;  but  Penn  was 
bound  by  his  religion  to  equal  laws.  "  I  will  not  abuse  the 
love  of  God  " — such  was  his  decision — "  nor  act  unworthy  of 
his  Providence,  by  defiling  what  came  to  me  clean.  No ;  let 
the  Lord  guide  me  by  his  wisdom  to  honor  his  name  and 
serve  his  truth  and  people,  that  an  example  and  a  standard 
may  be  set  up  to  the  nations ; "  and  he  adds  to  a  Friend  : 
"  There  may  be  room  there,  though  not  here,  for  the  Holy 
Experiment." 

With  a  company  of  emigrants,  full  instructions  were  for- 
warded, in  September,  respecting  lands  and  planting  a  city. 
Penn  disliked  the  crowded  towns  of  the  Old  World ;  he  de- 
sired the  city  might  be  so  planted  with  gardens  round  each 
house  as  to  form  "  a  greene  country  town."  In  October,  he 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  natives  of  the  American  forest, 
declaring  himseK  and  them  responsible  to  one  and  the  same 


1681-H»2.  PENNSYLVANIA.  555 

God,  having  the  same  law  written  in  their  hearts,  and  alike 
bound  to  love  and  help  and  do  good  to  one  another. 

Meantime,  the  mind  of  Penn  was  deeply  agitated  by 
thoughts  on  the  government  which  he  should  establish.  To 
him  government  was  a  part  of  religion  itself,  an  emanation  of 
divine  power,  capable  of  kindness,  goodness,  and  charity  ;  hav- 
ing an  opportunity  of  benevolent  care  for  men  of  the  highest 
attainments,  even  more  than  the  office  of  correcting  evil-doers ; 
and,  without  imposing  one  uniform  model  on  all  the  world, 
without  denying  that  time,  place,  and  emergencies  may  bring 
with  them  a  necessity  or  an  excuse  for  monarchical  or  even 
aristocratical  institutions,  he  believed  "  any  government  to  be 
free  to  the  people  where  the  laws  rule,  and  the  people  are  a 
party  to  the  laws."  Penn  was  superior  to  avarice,  and  he  had 
risen  above  ambition ;  but  he  loved  to  do  good ;  and  could 
passionate  philanthropy  resign  absolute  power  apparently  so 
favorable  to  the  exercise  of  vast  benevolence ?  "I  purpose " 
— such  was  the  prompt  decision  which  he  announced  in  May, 
^1682 — "for  the  matters  of  liberty  I  purpose  that  which  is 
extraordinary — to  leave  myself  and  successors  no  power  of 
doeing  mischief ;  that  the  will  of  one  man  may  not  hinder 
the  good  of  a  whole  country."  "  It  is  the  great  end  of  gov- 
ernment to  support  power  in  reverence  with  the  people,  and 
to  secure  the  people  from  the  abuse  of  power;  for  liberty 
without  obedience  is  confusion,  and  obedience  without  liberty 
is  slavery."  Taking  counsel,  therefore,  from  all  sides,  he 
published  a  frame  of  government,  not  as  a  conceded  consti- 
,4ution,  but  as  a  system  to  be  referred  to  the  freemen  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

In  the  same  month  a  free  society  of  traders  was  organized. 
"  It  is  a  very  unusual  society  " — such  was  their  advertisement 
— "  for  it  is  an  absolute  free  one,  and  in  a  free  country ;  every 
one  may  be  concerned  that  will,  and  yet  have  the  same  liberty 
of  private  traffique,  as  though  there  were  no  society  at  all." 

To  perfect  his  territory,  Penn  desired  the  bay,  the  river, 
and  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  to  the  ocean.  The  territories 
or  three  lower  counties,  now  forming  the  state  of  Delaware, 
were  in  possession  of  the  duke  of  York,  and  from  the  con- 
quest of  New  JSTetherland  had  been  esteemed  an  appendage 


556    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paetii.;  oh.  xvi. 

to  his  province.  His  claim,  arising  from  conquest  and  pos- 
session, had  the  informal  assent  of  the  king  and  the  privy 
council,  and  had  extended  even  to  the  upper  Swedish  settle- 
ments. It  was  not  difficult  to  obtain  from  the  duke  a  release 
of  his  claim  on  Pennsylvania ;  and,  after  much  negotiation,  in 
August,  the  lower  province  was  granted  by  two  deeds  of 
feoffment.  From  the  forty-third  degree  of  latitude  to  the 
Atlantic,  the  western  and  southern  banks  of  Delaware  river 
and  bay  were  under  the  dominion  of  William  Penn. 

Every  arrangement  for  a  voyage  to  his  province  being  fin- 
ished, in  a  beautiful  letter  he  took  leave  of  his  family.  His 
wife,  who  was  the  love  of  his  youth,  he  reminded  of  his  im- 
poverishment in  consequence  of  his  public  spirit,  and  wrote : 
"  Live  low  and  sparingly  till  my  debts  be  paid."  Yet  for  his 
children  he  adds :  "  Let  their  learning  be  liberal ;  spare  no 
cost,  for  by  such  parsimony  all  is  lost  that  is  saved."  "  Let 
my  children  be  husbandmen  and  housewives."  Friends  in 
England  gave  their  farewell  at  parting  with  "  the  innocence 
and  tenderness  of  the  child  that  has  no  guile." 

After  a  long  passage,  rendered  gloomy  by  frequent  death 
among  the  passengers,  many  of  whom  had  in  England  been 
his  immediate  neighbors,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 1682,  William  Penn  landed  at  ^Newcastle. 

The  son  and  grandson  of  naval  officers,  his  thoughts  had 
from  boyhood  been  directed  to  the  ocean;  the  conquest  of 
Jamaica  by  his  father  early  familiarized  his  imagination  with 
the  New  World,  and  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  he  indulged  in  visions,  of  which  America  was 
the  scene.  Bred  in  the  school  of  Independency,  he  had, 
while  hardly  twelve  years  old,  learned  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 
God  in  his  soul;  and  at  Oxford,  where  his  studies  included 
the  writings  of  the  Greek  philosophers,  especially  of  Plato, 
the  words  of  a  Quaker  preacher  so  touched  his  heart  that,  in 
1661,  he  was  fined  and  afterward  expelled  for  non-conform- 
ity. His  father,  bent  on  subduing  his  enthusiasm,  beat  him 
and  turned  him  into  the  streets,  to  choose  between  poverty 
with  a  pure  conscience,  or  fortune  with  obedience.  But  how 
could  the  hot  anger  of  a  petulant  sailor  continue  against  his 
oldest  son  ?    It  was  in  the  days  of  Descartes  that,  to  complete 


PENNSYLVANIA.  657 

his  education,  William  Penn  received  a  father's  permission  to 
visit  the  continent. 

From  the  excitements  and  the  instruction  of  travel  the 
young  exile  turned  aside  to  the  college  at  Saumur,  where,  under 
the  guidance  of  the  gifted  and  benevolent  Amyrault,  his  mind 
was  trained  in  the  severities  of  Calvinism,  as  tempered  bj  the 
spirit  of  universal  love. 

In  1664,  Penn  was  just  crossing  the  Alps  into  Piedmont 
when  the  appointment  of  his  father  to  the  command  of  a 
British  squadron  in  the  naval  war  with  Holland  compelled 
his  return  to  the  care  of  the  estates  of  the  family.  In  Lon- 
don the  travelled  student  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  while  diligent 
in  gaining  a  knowledge  of  English  law,  was  yet  esteemed  a 
most  modish  fine  gentleman. 

Having  thus  strengthened  his  understanding  by  the  learn- 
ing of  Oxford,  the  religion  and  philosophy  of  the  French 
Huguenots  and  France,  and  the  study  of  the  laws  of  England ; 
being  of  engaging  manners,  and  so  skilled  in  the  use  of  the 
sword  that  he  easily  disarmed  an  antagonist ;  of  great  natural 
vivacity  and  gay  good  humor — the  career  of  wealth  and  pre- 
ferment was  open  before  him  through  the  influence  of  his  fa- 
ther and  the  ready  favor  of  his  sovereign.  But  his  mind 
was  already  imbued  with  "  a  deep  sense  of  the  vanity  of  the 
world,  and  the  irreligiousness  of  its  religions." 

In  1666,  on  a  journey  in  Ireland,  William  Penn  heard  his 
old  friend  Thomas  Loe  speak  of  the  faith  that  overcomes  the 
world ;  the  undying  fires  of  enthusiasm  at  once  blazed  up- 
within  him,  and  he  renounced  every  hope  for  the  path  of  in- 
tegrity. It  is  a  path  into  which,  says  Penn,  "  God,  in  his. 
everlasting  kindness,  guided  my  feet  in  the  flower  of  my 
youth,  when  about  two-and-twenty  years  of  age."  And  in 
the  autumn  of  that  year  he  was  in  jail  for  the  crime  of  listen- 
ing to  the  voice  of  conscience.  "Religion,"  such  was  his 
remonstrance  to  the  viceroy  of  Ireland,  "is  my  crime  and  my 
innocence;  it  makes  me  a  prisoner  to  malice,  but  my  own 
freeman." 

After  his  enlargement,  returning  to  England,  he  encoun- 
tered bitter  mockings  and  scomings,  the  invectives  of  the 
priests,  the   strangeness  of  all   his  old   companions;  it  was 


558    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

noised  about  in  tlie  fashionable  world,  as  an  excellent  jest, 
that  "  William  Penn  was  a  Quaker  again,  or  some  very  mel- 
ancholy thing;"  and,  in  166Y,  his  father,  in  anger,  turned 
him  penniless  out  of  doors. 

The  outcast,  saved  from  extreme  indigence  by  a  mother's 
fondness,  became  an  author,  and,  in  1668,  announced  to  princes, 
priests,  and  people,  that  he  was  one  of  the  despised,  afflicted, 
and  forsaken  Quakers.  Repairing  to  court  with  his  hat  on, 
he  sought  to  engage  the  duke  of  Buckingham  in  favor  of  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  claimed  from  those  in  authority  better 
things  for  dissenters  than  stocks  and  whips  and  dungeons  and 
banishments,  and  was  urging  the  cause  of  freedom  with  impor- 
tunity, when  he  himself,  in  the  heyday  of  early  life,  was  con- 
signed to  a  long  and  close  imprisonment  in  the  Tower.  His 
offence  was  heresy  :  the  bishop  of  London  menaced  him  with 
imprisonment  for  life  unless  he  would  recant.  "  My  prison  shall 
be  my  grave,"  answered  Penn.  The  kind-hearted  Charles  II. 
sent  the  humane  and  candid  Stillingfleet  to  calm  the  enthusi- 
ast. "  The  Tower,"  such  was  Penn's  message  to  the  king,  "  is 
to  me  the  worst  argument  in  the  world."  In  vain  did  Still- 
ingfleet urge  the  motive  of  royal  favor  and  preferment.  The 
inflexible  young  man  demanded  freedom  of  Arlington,  "as 
the  natural  privilege  of  an  Englishman  ; "  club-law,  he  argued 
with  the  minister,  may  make  hypocrites ;  it  never  can  make 
■converts.  Conscience  needs  no  mark  of  public  allowance. 
It  is  not  like  a  bale  of  goods  that  is  to  be  forfeited  unless  it 
has  the  stamp  of  the  custom-house.  After  losing  his  freedom 
for  about  nine  months,  his  constancy  commanded  the  respect 
and  recovered  the  favor  of  his  father,  and  his  prison-door  was 
opened  by  the  intercession  of  his  father's  friend,  the  duke  of 
York. 

The  Quakers,  exposed  to  judicial  tyranny,  sought  a  barrier 
against  their  oppressors  by  narrowing  the  application  of  the 
common  law,  and  restricting  the  right  of  judgment  to  the  jury. 
Scarcely  had  Penn  been  at  liberty  a  year,  when,  after  the  in- 
tense intolerance  of  "  the  conventicle  act,"  he  was  arraigned, 
in  1670,  for  having  spoken  at  a  Quaker  meeting.  "  ]S"ot  all 
the  powers  on  earth  shall  divert  us  from  meeting  to  adore  our 
God  who  made  us,"  said  Penn  as  he  asked  on  what  law  the 


PENNSYLVANIA.  659 

indictment  was  founded.  "  On  the  common  law,"  answered 
the  recorder.  "  Where  is  that  law  ? "  demanded  Penn.  "  The 
law  which  is  not  in  being,  far  from  being  common,  is  no  law 
at  all."  Amid  angry  exclamations  and  menaces  he  proceeded 
to  plead  earnestly  for  the  fundamental  laws  of  England,  and, 
as  he  was  hurried  out  of  court,  still  reminded  the  jury  that 
"  they  were  his  judges."  Dissatisfied  with  the  first  verdict 
returned,  the  recorder  heaped  upon  the  jury  every  opprobri- 
ous epithet.  "  We  will  have  a  verdict,  by  the  help  of  God, 
or  you  shall  starve  for  it."  "You  are  Englishmen,"  said 
Penn,  who  had  been  again  brought  to  the  bar ;  "  mind  your 
privilege,  give  not  away  your  right."  "  It  never  will  be  well 
with  us,"  said  the  recorder,  "  till  something  like  the  Spanish 
inquisition  be  in  England."  At  last  the  jury,  who  had  re- 
ceived no  refreshments  for  two  days  and  two  nights,  on  the 
third  day  gave  their  verdict :  "  Not  guilty."  The  recorder 
fined  them  forty  marks  apiece  for  their  independence,  and, 
amercing  Penn  for  contempt  of  court,  sent  him  back  to 
prison.  The  trial  was  an  era  in  judicial  history.  The  fines 
were  soon  aiterward  discharged  by  his  father,  who  was  now 
approaching  his  end.  "  Son  William,"  said  the  dying  admi- 
ral, "  if  you  and  your  friends  keep  to  your  plain  way  of 
preaching  and  living,  you  will  make  an  end  of  the  priests." 

Inheriting  an  easy  fortune,  he  continued  to  defend  from 
the  press  the  principles  of  intellectual  liberty  and  moral 
equality ;  he  remonstrated  in  unmeasured  terms  against  the 
bigotry  and  intolerance,  "  the  hellish  darkness  and  debauch-, 
ery,"  of  the  university  of  Oxford ;  he  exposed  the  errors  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church,  and  in  the  same  breath  pleaded 
for  a  toleration  of  their  worship  ;  and,  never  fearing  openly 
to  address  a  Quaker  meeting,  he  was  soon  on  the  road  to 
Newgate,  to  suffer  for  his  honesty  by  a  six  months'  imprison- 
ment. "  You  are  an  ingenious  gentleman,"  said  the  magis- 
trate at  the  trial ;  "  you  have  a  plentiful  estate  ;  why  should 
you  render  yourself  unhappy  by  associating  with  such  a  sim- 
ple people  ?  "  "I  prefer,"  said  Penn,  "  the  honestly  simple 
to  the  ingeniously  wicked."  The  magistrate  rejoined  by 
charging  Penn  with  previous  immoralities.  The  young  man, 
with  passionate  vehemence,  vindicated  the  spotlessness  of  his 


660    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    paet  n.  ,•  oh.  xvl 

life.  "  I  speak  this,"  he  adds,  "  to  God's  glory,  who  has  ever 
preserved  me  from  the  power  of  these  pollutions,  and  who, 
from  a  child,  begot  a  hatred  in  me  toward  them.  Thy 
words  shall  be  thy  burden  ;  I  trample  thy  slander  under  my 
feet." 

From  Newgate,  Penn  addressed  parliament  and  the  nation 
in  a  noble  plea  for  liberty  of  conscience — a  liberty  which  he 
defended  from  experience,  from  religion,  and  from  reason. 

On  his  release  from  imprisonment,  a  calmer  season  of 
seven  years  followed.  Penn  travelled  in  Holland  and  Ger- 
many ;  then  returning  to  England,  he  married  a  woman  of 
.  extraordyiary  beauty  and  sweetness  of  temper,  whose  noble 
^^^^^ '^'spirit  "chose  him  before  many  suitors,"  and  honored  him 
with  "  a  deep  and  upright  love."  As  persecution  in  England 
was  suspended,  he  enjoyed  for  two  years  the  delights  of  rural 
life  and  the  animating  pursuit  of  letters,  till  the  imprison- 
ment of  George  Fox,  on  his  return  from  America,  demanded 
intercession.  Then  it  was  that,  in  considering  England's  pres- 
ent interest,  he  refused  to  rest  his  appeal  on  the  sentiment  of 
mercy,  and  merited  the  highest  honors  of  a  statesman  by  un- 
folding the  rights  of  conscience  in  their  connection  with  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  the  state. 

The  summer  and  autumn  after  the  first  considerable 
Quaker  emigration,  Barclay  and  Penn  went  to  and  fro  in 
Germany,  from,  the  Weser  to  the  Mayne,  the  Rhine,  and  the 
Neckar,  distributing  tracts,  discoursing  with  men  of  every 
sect  and  every  rank,  rebuking  every  attempt  to  inthrall  the 
mind,  and  sending  reproofs  to  kings  and  magistrates,  to  the 
princes  and  lawyers  of  all  Christendom.  He  explained  "  the 
universal  principle  "  in  the  court  of  the  princess  palatine,  and 
to  the  few  Quaker  converts  among  the  peasantry  of  Kirch- 
heim.  This  visit  of  Penn  gave  new  life  to  the  colonial  plans 
of  Oxenstiern,  and  inflamed  the  desire  of  the  peasantry  and 
the  middle  class  of  Germany  to  remove  to  America. 

On  his  return  to  England  he  appeared  before  a  committee 
of  the  house  of  commons  to  plead  for  universal  liberty  of 
conscience. 

Defeated  in  his  hopes  from  parliament  by  its  dissolution, 
Penn  took  an  active  part  in  the  elections  of  1679.     And,  as 


1682.  PENNSYLVANIA.  561 

Algernon  Sidney  now  "  embarked  with  those  that  did  seek 
love,  and  choose  the  best  things,"  William  Penn  engaged  in 
the  contest  for  his  election,  and  greatly  assisted  in  obtaining 
for  him  a  majority  which  was  defeated  only  by  a  false  return. 
Despairing  of  relief  in  Europe,  Penn  bent  his  energies  to 
the  establishment  of  a  free  government  in  the  New  World. 
And  now,  in  October,  1682,  being  in  the  meridian  of  life,  but 
a  year  older  than  was  Locke  when,  twelve  years  before,  he 
had  assisted  in  framing  a  constitution  for  Carolina,  the  Quaker 
legislator  was  come  to  the  New  World  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  states.  T^op.kp^  like  Willinim  P^nn^  wtrii  t^l^rnnt  ]  both 
loved  freedom ;  both  cherished  truth  in  sincerity.  But  Locke 
kindled  the  torch  of  liberty  at  the  fires  of  tradition ;  Penn, 
at  the  living  light  in  the  soul.  Locke  sought  truth  through 
the  senses  and  the  outward  w^orld ;  Penn  looked  inward  to  the 
divine  revelations  in  every  mind.  Locke  compared  the  soul 
to  a  sheet  of  white  paper,  just  as  Hobbes  had  compared  it  to 
a  slate,  on  which  time  and  chance  may  scrawl  their  experi- 
ence ;  to  Penn,  the  soul  was  an  organ  which  of  itself  instinc- 
tively breathes  divine  harmonies.  To  Locke,  "  conscience  is 
nothing  else  than  our  own  opinion  of  our  own  actions ; "  to 
Penn,  it  is  the  image  of  God,  and  his  oracle  in  the  soul. 
Locke,  who  was  never  a  father,  esteemed  "  the  duty  of  parents 
to  preserve  their  children  not  to  be  understood  without  reward 
and  punishment ; "  Penn  loved  his  children,  with  not  a  thought 
for  the  consequences.  Locke,  who  was  never  marriecj,  dg- 
elares  marriage  an  affair  of  the  senses ;  Penn  reverenced 
woman  as  the  object  of  fervent,  inward  affection,  made  not 
for  lust,  but  for  love.  In  studying  the  understanding,  Locke 
begins  with  the  sources  of  knowledge;  Penn,  with  an  in- 
ventory of  our  intellectual  treasures.  Locke  deduces  govern- 
ment from  Noah  and  Adam,  rests  it  upon  contract,  and  an- 
nounces its  end  to  be  the  security  of  property;  Penn,  far 
from  going  back  to  Adam,  or  even  to  Noah,  declares  that 
"  there  must  be  a  people  before  a  government,"  and,  deducing 
the  right  to  institute  government  from  man^s  moral  nature, 
seeks  its  fundamental  rules  in  the  immutable  dictates  "of 
universal  reason,"  its  end  in  freedom  and  happiness.  The 
By  stem   of  Locke  lends  itself  to  contending  factions  of  the 


562    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM   1660  TO   1688.     paet  n. ;  ch.  xvi. 

most  opposite  interests  and  purposes;  the  doctrine  of  Fox 
and  Penn,  being  but  the  common  creed  of  humanity,  forbids 
division  and  insures  the  highest  moral  unity.  To  Locke,  hap- 
piness is  pleasure ;  things  are  good  and  evil  only  in  reference 
to  pleasure  and  pain ;  and  to  ''  inquire  after  the  highest  good 
is  as  absurd  as  to  dispute  whether  the  best  relish  be  in  apples, 
plums,  or  nuts  ; "  Penn  esteemed  happiness  to  lie  in  the  sub- 
jection of  the  baser  instincts  to  the  instinct  of  Deity  in  the 
breast,  good  and  evil  to  be  eternally  and  always  as  unlike  as 
truth  and  falsehood,  and  the  inquiry  after  the  highest  good  to 
involve  the  purpose  of  existence.  Locke  says  plainly  that, 
but  for  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  the  grave,  "  it  is 
certainly  right  to  eat  and  drink,  and  enjoy  what  we  delight 
in  ; "  Penn,  like  Plato  and  Fenelon,  maintained  the  doctrine 
so  terrible  to  despots  that  God  is  to  be  loved  for  his  own  sake, 
and  virtue  to  be  practiced  for  its  intrinsic  loveliness.  Locke 
derives  the  idea  of  infinity  from  the  senses,  describes  it  as 
purely  negative,  and  attributes  it  to  nothing  but  space,  dura- 
tion, and  number ;  Penn  derived  the  idea  from  the  soul,  and 
ascribed  it  to  truth  and  virtue  and  God.  Locke  declares  im- 
mortality a  matter  with  which  reason  has  nothing  to  do,  and 
that  revealed  truth  must  be  sustained  by  outward  signs  and 
visible  acts  of  power ;  Penn  saw  truth  by  its  own  light,  and 
summoned  the  soul  to  bear  witness  to  its  own  glory.  Locke 
believed  "not  so  many  men  in  wrong  opinions  as  is  commonly 
supposed,  because  the  greatest  part  have  no  opinions  at  all, 
and  do  not  know  what  they  contend  for ; "  Penn  likewise 
vindicated  the  many,  but  it  was  because  truth  is  the  common 
inheritance  of  the  race.  Locke,  in  his  love  of  tolerance,  in- 
veighed against  the  methods  of  persecution  as  "  popish  prac- 
tices ; "  Penn  censured  no  sect,  but  condemned  bigotry  of  all 
sorts  as  inhuman.  Locke,  as  an  American  law-giver,  dreaded 
a  too  numerous  democracy,  and  reserved  all  power  to  wealth 
and  feudal  proprietaries ;  Penn  believed  that  God  is  in  every 
conscience,  his  light  in  every  soul ;  and  therefore  he  built 
— such  are  his  own  words — "  a  free  colony  for  all  mankind." 
This  is  the  praise  of  William  Penn,  that,  in  an  age  which 
had  seen  a  popular  revolution  shipwreck  popular  liberty 
among  selfish  factions,  which  had  seen  Hugh  Peter  and  Henry 


1682.  PENNSYLVANIA.  563 

Vane  perish  by  the  hangman's  cord  and  the  axe ;  in  an  age 
when  Sidney  nourished  the  pride  of  patriotism  rather  than 
the  sentiment  of  philanthropy,  when  Russell  stood  for  the 
liberties  of  his  order  and  not  for  new  enfranchisements,  when 
Harrington  and  Shaftesbury  and  Locke  thought  government 
should  rest  on  property — he  did  not  despair  of  humanity, 
and,  though  all  history  and  experience  denied  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  dared  to  cherish  the  noble  idea  of  man's 
capacity  for  self-government  and  right  to  it.  Conscious  that 
there  was  no  room  for  its  exercise  in  England,  the  pure  en- 
thusiast, like  Calvin  and  Descartes  a  voluntary  exile,  was 
come  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  to  institute  "  The  Holy 
Experiment." 

The  news  spread  rapidly  that  the  Quaker  king  was  at 
Newcastle;  and,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  October,  the  day 
after  his  landing,  in  presence  of  a  crowd  of  Swedes  and 
Dutch  and  English,  who  had  gathered  round  the  court-house, 
his  deeds  of  feoffment  were  produced ;  the  duke  of  York's 
agent  surrendered  the  territory  by  the  delivery  of  earth  and 
water,  and  Penn,  invested  with  supreme  and  undefined  power 
in  Delaware,  addressed  the  assembled  multitude  on  govern- 
ment, recommended  sobriety  and  peace,  and  pledged  himself 
to  grant  liberty  of  conscience  and  civil  freedom. 

On  the  same  day  Penn  ascended  the  Delaware  to  Chester, 
where  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the  emigrants  who  had 
preceded  him  from  the  north  of  England  ;  the  village  of  herds- 
men and  farmers,  with  their  plain  manners  and  tranquil  pas- 
sions, seemed  a  harbinger  of  a  golden  age. 

From  Chester,  tradition  describes  the  journey  of  Penn  to 
have  been  continued  with  a  few  friends  in  an  open  boat,  in 
the  earliest  days  of  November,  to  the  bank  on  which  the  city 
of  Philadelphia  was  soon  to  rise. 

For  the  inauguration  of  the  government,  a  general  con- 
vention had  been  permitted  by  Penn :  the  people  preferred 
to  appear  by  their  representatives ;  and  in  three  days  the 
work  of  preparatory  legislation  at  Chester  was  finished.  The 
charter  from  the  king  did  not  include  the  lands  which  form 
the  state  of  Delaware  ;  these  were  then  enfranchised  by  the 
joint  act  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  proprietary,  a»d  united 


564:    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  xyi. 

with  Pennsjlvania  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights.  The  freedom 
of  all  being  thus  confirmed,  the  Inward  Yoice,  which  was  the 
celestial  visitant  of  the  Quakers,  dictated  a  code.  God  was  de- 
clared the  only  Lord  of  conscience ;  the  first  day  of  the  week 
was  reserved  as  a  day  of  rest,  for  the  ease  of  the  creation. 
I  Equality  was  introduced  into  families  by  abrogating  the 
privileges  of  primogeniture.  The  word,  the  contract,  or  the 
testimony  of  a  man,  required  no  confirmation  by  oath.  The 
spirit  of  speculation  was  checked  by  a  system  of  strict  ac- 
countability, applied  to  factors  and  agents.  Every  resident 
who  paid  scot  and  lot  to  the  governor  possessed  the  right  of 
suffrage  ;  and,  without  regard  to  sect,  evf^ry  nhriafian  wf^p 
eligible  to  ofiSce.  No  tax  or  custom  could  be  levied  but  by 
law.  The  pleasures  of  the  senses,  masks,  revels,  and  stage- 
plays,  not  less  than  bull- baits  and  cock-fights,  were  prohibited. 
Murder  was  the  only  crime  punishable  by  death.  Marriage 
was  esteemed  a  civil  contract ;  adultery,  a  felony.  The  false 
accuser  was  liable  to  double  damages.  EzSJXJP^^^Q^  ^^^  ^Q^~ 
victs  was  made  a  workhouse.  There  were  neither  poor  rates 
nor  tithes.  The  Swedes  and  Finns  and  Dntfh  wf^vf^.  iTivftRtpH 
with  thp  h'hp.rHps  of  Enjo;1ishmftn.  Well  might  Lawrence 
Cook  exclaim  in  their  behalf :  "  It  is  the  best  day  we  have 
ever  seen."  The  work  of  legislation  being  finished,  the  pro- 
prietary urged  upon  the  house  his  religious  counsel,  and  the 
assembly  was  adjourned. 

The  government  having  been  organized,  William  Penn, 
in  December,  accompanied  by  members  of  his  council,  hast- 
ened to  West  river,  to  interchange  courtesies  with  Lord 
Baltimore,  and  fix  the  limits  of  their  respective  provinces. 
The  adjustment  was  difficult.  Lord  Baltimore  claimed  by  his 
charter  the  whole  country  as  far  as  the  fortieth  degree.  Penn 
replied,  just  as  the  Dutch  and  the  agents  of  the  duke  of  York 
had  always  urged,  that  the  charter  lor  Maryland  included 
only  lands  that  were  still  unoccupied  ;  that  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  had  been  purchased,  appropriated,  and  colonized, 
before  that  charter  was  written.  For  more  than  fifty  years 
the  country  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  and  their  suc- 
cessors ;  and,  during  that  period,  the  claim  of  Lord  Baltimore 
had  always  been  resisted.     The  answer  of  Penn  was  true,  and 


1683.  PENNSYLVANIA.  505 

conformed  to  English  law  as  applied  to  the  colonies.  In  1623, 
the  Dutch  had  built  Fort  IS'assau,  in  JS'ew  Jersey ;  and  the  soil 
of  Delaware  was  purchased  by  Godyn,  and  colonized  by  De 
Yries,  before  the  promise  of  King  Charles  to  Sir  George  Cal- 
vert. But  what  line  should  be  esteemed  the  hmit  of  Kew 
Netherland?  This  remained  a  subject  for  compromise.  A 
discussion  of  three  days  led  to  no  result :  tired  of  useless 
debates,  Peim  crossed  the  Chesapeake  to  visit  Friends  at 
Choptank,  and,  returning  to  his  own  province,  prepared  to 
renew  negotiation  or  to  submit  to  arbitration  in  England. 

In  the  first  weeks  of  1683,  William  Penn,  having  pur- 
chased of  the  Swedes  the  neck  of  land  between  the  Schuylkill 
and  Delaware,  marked  out  for  a  town  by  the  convenience  of 
the  rivers,  the  firmness  of  the  land,  the  pure  springs  and 
salubrious  air,  "  in  a  situation,"  such  are  his  own  words,  "  not 
surpassed  by  one  among  all  the  many  places  "  he  had  seen  in 

the   world,  hp.    lair)    nut   pV>ilnrl^lpIiia,   the   O.hj   of  r^-^fngP^   flip. 

mansion  of  freedom.  "Here,"  said  his  Quaker  brethren, 
"  we  may  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  the  Divine 
Principle,  free  from  the  mouldy  errors  of  tradition ;  here  we 
may  thrive,  in  peace  and  retirement,  in  the  lap  of  unadultera- 
ted nature ;  here  we  may  improve  an  innocent  course  of  life 
on  a  virgin  Elysian  shore."  But  vast  as  were  the  hopes  of  the 
humble  Friends,  who  now  marked  the  boundaries  of  streets 
on  the  chestnut-  or  ash-  and  walnut-trees  of  the  original  forest, 
they  were  surpassed  by  the  reality.  Pennsylvania  bound  the 
northern  and  the  southern  colonies  in  bonds  stronger  than 
paper  chains;  Philadelphia  is  the  birthplace  of  American 
independence  and  the  pledge  of  union. 

In  March,  the  infant  city  was  the  scene  of  legislation. 
From  each  of  the  six  counties  into  which  Penn's  dominions 
were  divided,  ^ine  ^^p^^°^^tatives^  Swedes,  Dutch,  and  Eng- 
lish, were  elected  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  charter  of 
liberties.  They  desired  it  might  be  the  acknowledged  growth 
'of  the  New  World,  and  bear  date  in  Philadelphia.  "  To  the 
people  of  this  place,"  said  Penn,  "I  am  not  like  a  selfish 
man ;  through  my  travail  and  pains  the  province  came ;  it  is 
now  in  Friends'  hands.  Our  faith  is  for  one  another,  that 
God  will  be  our  counsellor  forever."     And,  when  the  general 


566    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xvi. 

assembly  came  together,  he  referred  to  the  frame  of  govern- 
ment proposed  in  England,  saying :  "  You  may  amend,  alter, 
or  add ;  I  am  ready  to  settle  such  foundations  as  may  be  for 
your  happiness." 

The  constitution  which  was  established  created  a  legis- 
lative council  and  a  more  numerous  assembly  ;  the  former  to 
be  elected  for  three  years,  one  third  being  renewed  annually ; 
the  assembly  to  be  annually  chosen.  [Rotation  J^  nffl^P  waa 
enjoin  eH.  The  theory  of  the  constitution  ^ave  to  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  the  initiation  of  all  laws ;  these  were  to  be 
promulgated  to  the  people ;  and  the  office  of  the  assembly 
was  designed  to  be  no  more  than  to  report  the  decision  of  the 
people  in  their  primary  meetings^  Thus  no  law  could  be  en- 
acted  but  with  the  direct  assent  of  the  whole  community. 
Such  was  the  system  of  the  charter  of  liberties.  But  it  re- 
ceivea  modiiications  from  the  legislature  by  which  it  was 
established.  The  assembly  set  the  precedent  of  engaging  in 
debate,  and  of  proposing  subjects  for  bills  by  way  of  confer- 
ence with  the  governor  and  council.  In  return,  by  unani- 
mous vote,  a  negative  voice  was  allowed  the  governor  on  all 
the  doings  of  the  council,  and  such  a  power  was  virtually  a 
right  to  negative  any  law.  It  would  have  been  more  simple 
to  have  left  the  assembly  full  power  to  originate  bills,  and  to 
the  governor  an  unconditional  negative.  This  was  virtually 
the  method  established  in  1683 ;  it  was  distinctly  recognised 
in  the  fundamental  law  in  1696.  The  charter  from  Charles 
II.  held  the  proprietary,  responsible  for  colonial  legislation  ; 
and  no  act  of  provincial  legislation  could  be  perfected  till  it 
had  passed  the  great  seal  of  the  province.  That  a  negative 
voice  was  thus  reserved  to  William  Penn  was,  I  believe, 
the  opinion  of  the  colonists  of  that  day ;  such  was  certainly 
the  intention  of  the  royal  charter.  In  other  respects  the 
frame  of  government  gave  all  power  to  the  people ;  the  judges 
were  to  be  nominated  by  the  provincial  council,  and,  in  case 
of  good  behavior,  could  not  be  removed  by  "Ihe  proprietary 
during  the  term  for  which  they  were  commissioned.  But 
for  the  hereditary  office  of  proprietary,  Pennsylvania  would 
have  been  a  representative  democracy.  In  Maryland*  the 
council  was  named  by  Lord  Baltimore ;  in  Pennsylvania  by 


1683.  PENNSYLVANIA.  567 

the  people.  In  Marylan(l  tii6  power  of  appointing  magistrates, 
and  all,  even  the  subordinate  executive  officers,  rested  solely 
with  the  proprietary  ;^^in-  Pennsylvania,  William  Penn  could 
not  appoint  a  justice  or  a  constable  ;  every  executive  officer, 
except  the  highest,  was  elected  by  the  people  or  their  represen- 
tatives ;  and  the  governor  could  perform  no  public  act  but  with 
the  consent  of  the  council.  Lord  Baltimore  had  a  revenue  de- 
rived from  the  export  of  tobacco,  the  staple  of  Maryland,  and 
his  colony  was  burdened  with  taxes  ;  a  similar  revenue  was 
offered  to  William  Penn  and  declined. 

In  the  name  of  all  the  freemen  of  the  province,  the  char- 
ter was  received  by  the  asseraby  with  gratitude,  as  one  "  of 
more  than  expected  liberty."  "  I  desired,"  says  Penn,  "  to 
show  men  as  free  and  as  happy  as  they  can  be."  In  old  age 
his  language  was  still :  "  If,  in  the  relation  between  us,  the 
people  want  of  me  anything  that  would  make  them  happier, 
I  shall  readily  grant  it." 

The  first  purchase  of  land  from  the  Indians  for  the  pro- 
prietary was  made  by  Markham,  in  July^  1682.  In  May, 
1683,  Penn  "was  in  treaty  for  land  with  the  kings  of  the 
natives,"  who  took  much  time  to  form  a  resolution.  On  the 
twenty-third  of  June,  he  met  them  in  council,  and  received 
the  deed.  Two  days  later  in  June,  and  on  the  fourteenth  of 
July,  a  further  purchase  was  completed.  After  this,  "  great 
promises  passed  between  him  and  the  Indians  of  kindness  and 
good  neighborhood,  and  that  the  Indians  and  English  must 
live  in  love  as  long  as  the  sun  should  give  light."  This  being 
done,  another  chieftain  spoke  to  the  Indians  in  the  name  of 
all  the  several  chiefs,  first  to  explain  what  was  done,  and  then 
to  charge  them  to  love  the  Christians,  and  particularly  to  live 
in  peace  with  Penn  and  the  people  under  his  government. 
At  every  sentence  of  this  last  speech  the  whole  company 
shouted  and  said  Amen,  in  their  way,  and  a  firm  and  advan- 
tageous correspondence  with  them  was  settled.  "  They  are  a 
careless,  merry  people,"  writes  Penn,  "  yet  in  affairs  of  prop- 
erty strict  in  their  dealings.  In  council,  they  are  deliberate, 
in  speech  short,  grave,  and  eloquent."  "  I  have  never  seen 
in  Europe  anything  more  wise,  cautious,  and  dexterous.  It  is 
admirable  to  me  as  it  may  look  incredible  on  the  other  side 


568    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660   TO   1688.     paetii.;  ch.  xyi. 

of  the  water."  And  again  he  says :  "  They  have  tied  them- 
selves by  an  obligation  under  their  hands  that  if  any  of  them 
break  our  lav^^s  they  shall  submit  to  be  punished  by  them." 
The  white  and  the  red  men  ''  agreed  that  in  all  differences 
between  them,  twelve  men,  six  of  each  side,  shall  end  the 
matter." 

Penn  often  met  the  Indians,  visiting  them  in  their  cabins, 
and  sharing  their  banquet  of  hominy.  The  tawny  skin  did 
not  exclude  the  instinct  of  a  Deity.  "  The  poor  savage  people 
believed  in  God  and  the  soul  without  the  aid  of  metaphysics." 

The  rulers  and  the  natives  kept  faith  with  one  another. 
"  To  the  poor  dark  souls  around  about  us,"  said  the  Quakers, 
"  we  teach  their  rights  as  men." 

When  Peter,  the  great  Russian  reformer,  attended  in 
England  a  meeting  of  Quakers,  the  semi-barbarous  philan- 
thropist could  not  but  exclaim  :  "  How  happy  must  be  a  com- 
munity instituted  on  their  principles !  "  "  Beautiful !  "  said 
Frederic  of  Prussia  when,  a  hundred  years  later,  he  read  the 
account  of  the  government  of  Pennsylvania ;  "  it  is  perfect, 
if  it  can  endure."  To  the  charter  which  Locke  invented  for 
Carolina,  the  proprietaries  voted  an  immutable  immortality ; 
and  it  never  gained  more  than  a  short,  partial  existence  :  to 
the  people  of  his  province  Penn  left  it  free  to  subvert  or  alter 
the  frame  of  government ;  and  its  essential  principles  con- 
tinue to  this  day  vnthout  change. 

It  remained  to  dislodge  superstition  from  its  hiding-places 
in  the  imagination  of  the  Scandinavian  emigrants.  A  turbu- 
lent Swedish  woman  was  brought  to  trial,  in  1684,  as  a  witch. 
Penn  presided,  and  the  Quakers  on  the  jury  outnumbered  the 
Swedes.  The  grounds  of  the  accusation  were  canvassed,  the 
witnesses  calmly  examined,  and  the  jury,  having  listened  to 
the  charge  from  the  governor,  returned  this  verdict :  "  The 
prisoner  is  guilty  of  the  common  fame  of  being  a  witch,  but 
not  guilty  as  she  stands  indicted."  The  friends  of  the  liberated 
prisoner  gave  bonds  that  she  should  keep  the  peace ;  and  from 
Penn's  domain  witchcraft  disappeared. 

Meantime,  the  news  spread  abroad  that  William  Penn,  the 
Quaker,  had  opened  "  an  asylum  to  the  good  and  the  op- 
pressed of  every  nation ; "  and  humanity  went  through  Eu- 


1683-1685.  PENNSYLVANIA.  569 

rope,  gathering  the  children  of  misfortune.  From  England 
and  Wales,  from  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  the  Low  Countries, 
emigrants  crowded  to  the  land  of  promise.  On  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine  new  companies  were  formed  under  better  auspices 
than  those  of  the  Swedes;  and,  from  the  highlands  above 
Worms,  the  humble  people  renounced  their  German  homes 
for  his  protection.  There  had  been  nothing  in  the  history  of 
the  human  race  like  the  confidence  which  his  simple  virtues 
and  institutions  inspired.  In  August,  1683,  "Philadelphia 
consisted  of  three  or  four  little  cottages ; "  the  conies  were 
yet  undisturbed  in  their  hereditary  burrows;  the  deer  fear- 
lessly bounded  past  blazed  trees,  that  foreboded  streets ;  the 
stranger  who  wandered  from  the  river  bank  was  lost  in  the 
forest ;  and,  two  years  afterward,  the  place  contained  about 
six  hundred  houses,  and  the  school-master  and  the  printing 
press  had  begun  their  work.  "  I  must,  without  vanity,  say," 
such  was  his  honest  self-gratulation  in  1684,  "  I  have  led  the 
greatest  colony  into  America  that  ever  any  man  did  upon  a 
private  credit,  and  the  most  prosperous  beginnings  that  ever 
were  in  it  are  to  be  found  among  us." 

The  government  had  been  organized,  peace  with  the  na- 
tives confirmed,  the  fundamental  law  established,  the  courts 
of  justice  instituted.  The  province  already  contained  eight 
thousand  souls.  Intrusting  the  great  seal  to  his  friend  Lloyd, 
and  the  executive  power  to  a  committee  of  the  council,  Penn, 
in  August,  1684,  sailed  for  England,  leaving  to  his  people  a 
farewell,  unclouded  by  apprehension.  "  My  love  and  my  life 
are  to  you  and  with  you,  and  no  water  can  quench  it,  nor 
distance  bring  it  to  an  end.  I  have  been  with  you,  cared  over 
you,  and  served  you  with  unfeigned  love ;  and  you  are  be- 
loved of  me  and  dear  to  me  beyond  utterance.  I  bless  you 
in  the  name  and  power  of  the  Lord,  and  may  God  bless  you 
with  his  righteousness,  peace,  and  plenty,  all  the  land  over." 
"  You  are  come  to  a  quiet  land,  and  liberty  and  authority  are 
in  your  hands.  Rule  for  him  under  whom  the  princes  of 
this  world  will  one  day  esteem  it  their  honor  to  govern  in 
their  places."  "  And  thou,  Philadelphia,  the  virgin  settle- 
ment of  this  province,  my  soul  prays  to  God  for  thee,  that 
thou  may  est  stand  in  the  day  of  trial,  and  that  thy  children 


570    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xvi. 

may  be  blessed."  "  Dear  friends,  my  love  salutes  you  all." 
And,  after  he  reached  England,  he  assured  eager  inquirers 
that  "  things  went  on  sweetly  with  Friends  in  Pennsylvania ; 
that  they  increased  finely  in  outward  things  and  in  wisdom." 

The  question  respecting  the  boundaries  between  the  do- 
mains of  Lord  Baltimore  and  of  William  Penn  was  promptly 
resumed  before  the  committee  of  trade  and  plantations ;  and, 
after  many  hearings,  in  October,  1685,  it  was  decided  that  the 
tract  of  Delaware  did  not  constitute  a  part  of  Maryland.  The 
boundaries  of  Delaware  were  ultimately  established  by  a  com- 
promise. 

This  decision  formed  the  basis  of  a  settlement  between 
the  respective  heirs  of  the  two  proprietaries  in  1732.  Three 
years  afterward,  the  subject  became  a  question  in  chancery ; 
in  1750,  the  present  boundaries  were  decreed  by  Lord  Hard- 
wicke ;  ten  years  later,  they  were,  by  agreement,  more  ac- 
curately defined ;  and,  in  1761,  commissioners  began  to  desig- 
nate the  limit  of  Maryland  on  the  side  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware.  In  1763,  Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon,  two 
mathematicians  and  surveyors,  were  engaged  totfi'ark  the  lines. 
In  1764,  they  entered  upon  their  task,  with  good  instruments 
and  a  corps  of  axemen  ;  by  the  middle  of  June,  1765,  they 
had  traced  the  parallel  of  latitude  to  the  Susquehannah ;  a 
year  later,  they  climbed  the  Little  Alleghany ;  in  1Y57,  they 
carried  forward  their  work,  under  an  escort  from  the  Six 
IN^ations,  to  an  Indian  war-path,  two  hundred  and  forty-four 
miles  from  the  Delaware  river.  Others  continued  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  to  the  bound  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  south-west. 

But  the  care  of  colonial  property  did  not  absorb  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Penn  ;  now  that  his  father's  friend  had  succeeded 
to  the  throne,  he  employed  his  fortune,  his  influence,  and 
his  fame  to  secure  that  "  impartial  "  liberty  of  conscience 
which,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  he  had  advocated  before  the 
magistrates  of  Ireland,  and  English  juries,  in  the  Tower,  in 
N^ewgate,  before  the  commons  of  England,  in  public  discus- 
sions with  Baxter  and  the  Presbyterians,  before  Quaker  meet- 
ings, at  Chester  and  Philadelphia,  and  through  the  press  to 
the  world.  It  was  his  old  post,  the  ofiice  to  which  he  was 
faithful  from  youth  to  age.     Fifteen  thousand  families  had 


1685-1687.  PENNSYLVAOTA.  571 

been  ruined  for  dissent  since  the  restoration ;  five  thousand 
persons  had  died  victims  to  imprisonment.  The  monarch  was 
persuaded  to  exercise  his  prerogative  of  mercy;  and,  in  1686, 
at  Penn's  intercession,  not  less  than  twelve  hundred  Friends 
were  liberated  from  the  horrible  dungeons  and  prisons  w^here 
many  of  them  had  languished  hopelessly  for  years.  For 
Locke,  then  a  voluntary  exile,  he  obtained  a  promise  of  im- 
munity, which  the  blameless  philosopher,  in  the  just  pride  of 
innocence,  refused.  Claiming  for  the  executive  of  the  country 
the  prerogative  of  employing  every  person,  *'  according  to  his 
ability,  and  not  according  to  his  opinion,"  he  labored  to  effect 
a  repeal  by  parliament  of  every  disfranchisement  for  opinion. 
Ever  ready  to  deepen  the  vestiges  of  British  freedom,  and 
vindicate  the  right  of  "  the  free  Saxon  people  to  be  governed 
by  laws  of  which  they  themselves  were  the  makers,"  his  soul 
was  bent  on  effecting  this  end  by  means  of  parliament  during 
the  reign  of  James  IL,  well  knowing  that  the  prince  of 
Orange  was  pledged  to  a  less  liberal  policy.  The  political 
tracts  of  "  the  arch  Quaker  "  in  behalf  of  liberty  of  conscience 
connect  the  immutable  principles  of  human  nature  and  hu 
man  rights  with  the  character  and  origin  of  English  freedom, 
and  exhaust  the  question  as  a  subject  for  English  legislation. 
ISTo  man  in  England  w^as  more  opposed  to  Roman  Catholic 
dominion ;  but  he  desired,  in  the  controversy  w^ith  the  Roman 
church,  nothing  but  equality ;  and,  in  the  true  spirit  of  liberty, 
he  sought  to  infuse  his  principles  into  the  public  mind,  that 
so  they  might  find  their  place  in  the  statute-book  through  the 
convictions  of  his  countrymen.  William  Penn  was  involved 
in  the  obloquy  which  followed  the  Stuarts ;  but  the  candor  of 
his  character  triumphs  over  detraction  ;  his  fame  has  its  in- 
effaceable record  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Meanwhile,  the  Quaker  legislators  in  the  woods  of  Penn- 
sylvania were  serving  their  novitiate  in  popular  legislation. 
To  complain,  to  impeach,  to  institute  committees  of  inquiry, 
to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  to  quarrel  with  the  executive 
— all  was  attempted,  and  all  without  permanent  harm.  The 
assembly,  in  1685  and  1686,  originated  bills  without  scruple;' 
they  attempted  a  new  organization  of  the  judiciary;  they 
alarmed  the  merchants  by  their  lenity  toward  debtors ;  they 


5Y2    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xvi. 

would  vote  no  taxes;  they  claimed  the  right  of  inspecting 
the  records,  and  displacing  the  officers  of  the  courts.  Jealousy 
of  a  feudal  chief  was  displayed.  The  maker  of  the  first 
Pennsylvania  almanac  was  censured  for  publishing  Penn  as  a 
lord ;  they  expelled  a  member  who  reminded  them  that  they 
were  contravening  the  provisions  of  their  charter.  The  exec- 
utive power  was  imperfectly  administered,  for  the  council  was 
too  numerous  a  body  for  its  regular  exercise.  In  1687,  a  com- 
mission of  five  was  substituted ;  and  finally,  when  it  was  re- 
solved to  appoint  a  deputy  governor,  the  choice  of  the  pro- 
prietary was  not  wisely  made.  In  legislation,  justice  and  wis- 
dom were  left  to  struggle  with  folly  and  passion ;  but,  in  the 
universal  prosperity,  discontent  could  find  no  resting-place. 

Peace  was  uninterrupted.  Once,  indeed,  it  was  rumored 
that  on  the  Brandywine  five  hundred  Indians  were  assembled 
to  concert  a  massacre.  Immediately  Caleb  Pusey,  with  five 
Friends,  hastened  unarmed  to  the  scene  of  anticipated  danger. 
The  sachem  repelled  the  report  with  indignation  ;  and  the 
griefs  of  the  tribe  were  canvassed  and  assuaged.  "  The  great 
God,  who  made  all  mankind,  extends  his  love  to  Indians  and 
English.  The  rain  and  the  dews  fall  alike  on  the  ground  of 
both ;  the  sun  shines  on  us  equally ;  and  we  ought  to  love  one 
another."  Such  was  the  diplomacy  of  the  Quaker  envoy. 
The  king  of  the  Dela wares  answered:  "What  you  say  is 
true.  Go  home,  and  harvest  the  corn  God  has  given  you. 
We  intend  you  no  harm." 

The  white  man  agreed  with  the  red  man  to  love  one 
another.  William  Penn  employed  blacks  without  scruple. 
'The  free  society  of  traders,  which  he  chartered  and  en- 
couraged, in  its  first  public  agreement  relating  to  negroes,  did 
but  substitute,  after  fourteen  years'  service,  the  severe  con- 
dition of  adscripts  to  the  soil  for  that  of  slaves.  At  a  later 
day  he  endeavored  to  secure  to  the  African  mental  and  moral 
culture,  the  rights  and  happiness  of  domestic  life.  His  efforts 
were  not  successful.  In  his  last  will  he  directed  his  own 
slaves  to  be  emancipated ;  but  his  direction  was  not  regarded 
by  the  heir.  On  the  subject  of  negro  slavery,  the  German 
mind  was  least  inthralled  by  prejudice,  because  Germany  had 
never  yet  participated  in  the  slave-trade.     The  Swedish  and 


1688-1691.  PENNSYLVANIA.  573  \ 

German  colony  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  avowed  the  design 
to  permit  only  free  labor.  The  general  meeting  of  the  Quakers 
for  a  season  forebore  a  positive  judgment ;  but  already,  in 
1688,  "  the  poor  hearts  "  from  Kirchheim,  "  the  little  hand- 
ful "  of  German  Friends  from  the  highlands  above  the  Rhine, 
came  to  the  resolution  that  it  was  not  lawful  for  Christians  to 
buy  or  to  keep  negro  slaves. 

This  decision  of  the  German  emigrants  on  negro  slavery 
was  taken  during  the  lifetime  of  George  Fox,  who  recognised 
no  distinction  of  race.  "  Let  your  light  shine  among  the  In- 
dians, the  blacks,  and  the  whites,"  was  his  message  to  Quakers 
on  the  Delaware.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death,  he  exhorted 
Friends  in  America  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  the  salt  to 
preserve  earth  from  corruption.  Covetousness,  he  adds,  is 
idolatry ;  and  he  bids  them  beware  of  that  "  idol  for  which  so 
many  lose  morality  and  humanity."  In  1691,  on  his  death- 
bed, nearly  his  last  words  were :  "  Mind  poor  Friends  in 
America."  His  works  praise  him.  Neither  time  nor  place 
can  dissolve  fellowship  with  his  spirit.  To  his  name  William 
Penn  left  this  short  epitaph :  "  Many  sons  have  done  virtu- 
ously in  this  day ;  but,  dear  George,  thou  excellest  them  aU." 

An  opposite  system  was  developed  in  the  dominions  of  the 
duke  of  York. 


574:    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO   1688.    pakt  ii.;  ch.  xvn. 


CHAPTER   XYIL 

JAMES    n.    CONSOLIDATES   THE   NORTHERN    COLONIES. 

The  country  which,  in  June,  1674,  after  the  reconquest  of 
New  Ketherland,  was  again  conveyed  to  the  duke  of  York, 
extended  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  St.  Croix,  and  from  the 
Connecticut  river  to  Maryland.  We  have  now  to  trace  an 
attempt  to  consolidate  the  whole  coast  north  of  the  Delaware. 

The  charter  from  the  king  sanctioned  whatever  ordinances 
the  duke  of  York  or  his  assigns  might  establish ;  and  in  re- 
gard to  justice,  revenue,  and  legislation,  Edmund  Andros^  the 
governor,  was  responsible  only  to  his  employer.  He  was  in- 
structed to  display  all  the  humanity  and  gentleness  that  could 
consist  with  arbitrary  power ;  and,  avoiding  wilful  cruelty,  to 
use  punishments  as  an  instrument  of  terror.  On  the  last  day 
of  October,  he  received  the  surrender  of  New  Netherland 
from  the  representatives  of  the  Dutch,  and  renewed  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  the  proprietary.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
eastern  part  of  Long  Island  resolved,  in  town-meetings,  to  ad- 
here to  Connecticut.  The  charter  of  that  government  did 
not  countenance  their  decision  ;  and,  unwilling  to  be  declared 
rebels,  they  submitted  to  New  York. 

In  July,  1675,  Andros,^  with  armed  sloops,  proceeded  to 
Connecticut  to  vindicate  his  jurisdiction  as  far  as  the  river. 
On  the  first  alarm,  William  Leet,  the  aged  deputy  governor, 
one  of  the  original  seven  pillars  of  the  church  of  Guilford, 
educated  in  England  as  a  lawyer,  a  rigid  republican,  hospitable 
even  to  regicides,  convened  the  assembly.  A  proclamation 
was  unanimously  voted,  and  forwarded  by  express  to  Bull,  the 
captain  of  the  company  on  whose  firmness  the  independence 
of  the  little  colony  rested.     It  arrived  just  as  Andros,  hoist- 


1675-1679.         CONSOLIDATION"  OF  THE  NORTH.  575 

ing  the  king's  flag,  demanded  the  surrender  of  Saybrook  fort. 
Immediately  the  English  colors  were  raised  within  the  fortress. 
Despairing  of  victory,  Andros  attempted  persuasion.  Having 
been  allowed  to  land  with  his  personal  retinue,  he  assumed 
authority,  and,  in  the  king's  name,  ordered  the  duke's  patent, 
with  his  own  commission,  to  be  read.  In  the  king's  name  he 
was  commanded  to  desist ;  and  Andros  was  overawed  by  the 
fishermen  and  yeomen  who  formed  the  colonial  troops.  Their 
proclamation  he  spoke  of  as  a  slander,  and  an  ill  requital  for 
his  intended  kindness.  The  Saybrook  militia,  escorting  him 
to  his  boat,  saw  him  sail  for  Long  Island ;  and  Connecticut, 
resenting  the  aggression,  made  a  declaration  of  its  wrongs, 
sealed  it  with  its  seal,  and  transmitted  it  to  the  neighboring 
plantations. 

In  'New  York  itself  Andros  was  hardly  more  welcome 
than  at  Saybrook ;  for  the  obedient  servant  of  the  duke  of 
York  discouraged  every  mention  of  assemblies,  and  levied 
customs  without  the  consent  of  the  people.  But,  since  the 
Puritans  of  Long  Island  claimed  a  representative  government 
as  an  inalienable  English  birthright,  and  the  whole  population 
opposed  the  ruling  system  as  a  tyranny,  the  governor,  in  1676, 
advised  his  master  to  concede  legislative  franchises. 

The  dull  James  II.,  then  duke  of  York,  of  a  fair  com- 
plexion and  an  athletic  frame,  was  patient  in  details,  yet  sin- 
gularly blind  to  universal  principles,  plodding  with  sluggish 
diligence,  but  unable  to  conform  conduct  to  a  general  rule. 
Within  narrow  limits  he  reasoned  correctly ;  but  his  vision 
did  not  extend  far.  Without  sympathy  for  the  people,  he  had 
no  discernment  of  character,  and  was  the  easy  victim  of  du- 
plicity and  intrigue.  His  loyalty  was  but  devotion  to  the 
prerogative  which  he  hoped  to  inherit.  Brave  in  the  face  of 
expected  dangers,  an  unforeseen  emergency  found  him  pusil- 
lanimously  helpless.  He  kept  his  word  sacredly,  unless  it  in- 
volved complicated  relations,  which  he  conld  scarcely  compre- 
hend. As  to  religion,  a  service  of  forms  alone  suited  his  nar- 
row understanding ;  to :;attend  mass,  to  build  chapels,  to  risk  the 
kingdom  for  a  rosary 4-all  this  was  within  his  grasp.  Freedom 
of  conscience  was,  in^  that  age,  an  idea  yet  standing  on  the 
threshold  of  the  world, awaiting  to  be  ushered  in ;  and  none 


576    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.     part  ii.  ;  ch.  xvii. 

but  exalted  miads — Roger  Williams  and.  Penn,  Yane,  Fox, 
and  Bunyan — went  forth  to  welcome  it ;  no  glimpse  of  it 
reached.  James,  whose  selfish  policy,  unable  to  gain  immediate 
dominion  for  his  persecuted  priests  and  his  confessor,  begged 
at  least  for  toleration.  Debauching  a  woman  on  promise  of 
marriage,  he  next  allowed  her  to  be  traduced,  and  then  mar- 
ried her;  he  was  conscientious,  but  his  moral  sense  was  as 
slow  as  his  understanding.  He  was  not  bloodthirsty ;  but 
to  a  narrow  mind  fear  seems  the  most  powerful  instrument 
of  government,  and  he  propped  his  throne  on  the  block 
and  the  gallows.  A  libertine  without  love,  a  devotee  with- 
out spirituality,  an  advocate  of  toleration  without  a  sense 
of  the  natural  right  to  freedom  of  conscience,  he  floated 
between  the  sensuality  of  indulgence  and  the  sensuality  of 
superstition,  hazarding  heaven  for  an  ugly  mistress,  and,  to 
the  great  delight  of  abbots  and  nuns,  winning  it  back  again 
by  pricking  his  flesh  with  sharp  points  of  iron,  and  eating 
no  meat  on  Saturdays.  Of  the  two  brothers,  the  duke  of 
Buckingham  said  well,  that  Charles  would  not  and  James 
could  not  see.  On  the  first  of  January,  16YT,  James  put  his 
whole  character  into  his  reply  to  Andros,  which  was  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  I  cannot  but  suspect  assemblies  would  be  of  dangerous 
consequence,  nothing  being  more  known  than  the  aptness  of 
such  bodies  to  assume  to  themselves  many  privileges,  which 
prove  destructive  to,  or  very  often  disturb,  the  peace  of  gov- 
ernment, when  they  are  allowed.  Neither  do  I  see  any  use 
for  them.  Things  that  need  redress  may  be  sure  of  finding  it 
at  the  quarter  sessions,  or  by  the  legal  and  ordinary  ways,  or, 
lastly,  by  appeals  to  myself.  However,  I  shall  be  ready  to 
consider  of  any  proposal  you  shall  send." 

In  November,  some  months  after  the  province  of  Sagada- 
hock — that  is,  Maine  east  of  the  Kennebec — had  been  pro- 
tected by  a  fort  and  a  considerable  garrison,  Andros  hastened 
to  England ;  but  he  could  not  give  eyes  to  the  duke ;  and, 
on  his  return  to  New  York,  in  1678,  he  was  ordered  to  con- 
tinue the  duties  which,  at  the  surrender,  had  been  established 
for  three  years.  In  1679,  the  revenue  was  a  little  increased  ; 
but  the  taxes  were  hardly  three  per  cent  on   imports,  and 


X678-1685.         CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  NORTH.  ,577 

really  insufficient  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  colony  ;  and  an 
attempt  to  thwart  the  discipline  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
church  by  the  prerogative  had  been  abandoned.  As  in  the 
days  of  Lovelace,  the  province  was  "a  terrestrial  Canaan. 
The  inhabitants  were  blessed  in  their  basket  and  their  store. 
They  were  free  from  pride ;  and  a  wagon  gave  as  good  con- 
tent as  in  Europe  a  coach,  their  home-made  cloth  as  the  finest 
lawns.  The  doors  of  the  low-roofed  houses,  which  luxury 
never  entered,  stood  wide  open  to  charity  and  to  the  stranger." 
The  island  of  New  York  may,  in  1678,  have  contained  not 
far  from  three  thousand  inhabitants  ;  in  the  whole  colony 
there  could  not  have  been  far  from  twenty  thousand.  Minis- 
ters were  scarce  but  welcome,  and  religions  many ;  the  poor 
were  relieved,  and  beggars  unknown.  A  thousand  pounds 
seemed  opulence;  the  possessor  of  half  that  sum  was  rich. 
The  exports  were  land  productions — wheat,  lumber,  tobacco — 
and  peltry  from  the  Indians.  In  the  community,  composed 
essentially  of  freeholders,  great  equality  of  condition  pre- 
vailed ;  there  were  but  "  few  merchants,"  "  few  servants,  and 
very  few  slaves."  Prompted  by  an  exalted  instinct,  the  peo- 
ple, in  a  popular  convention,  demanded  power  to  govern  them- 
selves ;  and  when,  in  1681,  the  two  Platts,  Titus,  Wood,  and 
Wicks,  of  Huntington,  arbitrarily  summoned  to  N'ew  York, 
were  still  more  arbitrarily  thrown  into  prison,  the  purpose  of 
the  yeomanry  remained  unshaken. 

The  government  of  ISTew  York  was  quietly  maintained 
over  the  settlements  south  and  west  of  the  Delaware,  till  they 
were  granted  to  Penn  ;  over  the  Jerseys  Andros  claimed  a 
paramount  authority.  We  have  seen  the  Quakers  refer  the 
contest  for  decision  to  an  Eno^lish  commission. 

In  East  IS'ew  Jersey,  Philip  Carteret,  as  the  deputy  of  Sir 
George,  had,  in  1675,  resumed  the  government,  and,  gaining 
popularity  by  postponing  the  payment  of  quit-rents,  con- 
firmed liberty  of  conscience  with  representative  government. 
A  direct  trade  with  England,  unencumbered  by  customs,  was 
encouraged.  The  commerce  of  New  York  was  endangered 
by  the  competition ;  and,  disregarding  a  second  patent  from 
the  duke  of  York,  Andros,  in  1678,  claimed  that  the  ships  of 
New  Jersey  should  pay  tribute  at  Manhattan.     After  long 


578    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xvii. 

altercations  and  the  arrest  of  Carteret,  terminated  only  by  the 
honest  verdict  of  a  New  York  jury,  Andros,  in  1680,  again 
entered  New  Jersey,  to  intimidate  its  assembly  by  the  royal 
patent  to  the  duke.  New  Jersey  could  not,  as  in  the  happier 
Connecticut,  plead  an  earlier  grant  from  the  king.  "  We  are 
the  representatives  of  the  freeholders  of  this  province  :  "  such 
was  the  answer  of  the  assembly ;  "  his  majesty's  patent, 
though  under  the  great  seal,  we  dare  not  grant  to  be  our  rule 
or  joint  safety ;  for  the  great  charter  of  England,  alias  Magna 
Charter,  is  the  only  rule,  privilege,  and  joint  safety  of  every 
free-born  Englishman." 

The  trustees  of  Sir  George  Carteret,  tired  of  the  burden 
of  colonial  property,  exposed  their  province  to  sale ;  and.  in 
1682,  the  unappropriated  domain,  wdth  jurisdiction  over  the 
five  thousand  already  planted  on  the  soil,  was  purchased  by 
an  association  of  twelve  Quakers,  under  the  auspices  of  Will- 
iam Penn.  A  brief  account  of  the  province  was  immedi- 
ately published  ;  and  settlers  were  allured  by  a  eulogy  on  its 
healthful  climate  and  safe  harbors,  its  fisheries  and  abundant 
game,  its  forests  and  fertile  soil,  and  the  large  liberties  estab- 
lished for  the  encouragement  of  adventurers.  In  November, 
possession  was  taken  by  Thomas  Rudyard,  as  temporary 
deputy  governor  ;  the  happy  country  was  already  tenanted  by 
"a  sober,  professing  people."  Meantime,  the  twelve  proprie- 
tors selected  each  a  partner;  and,  in  March,  1683,  to  the 
twenty-four,  among  whom  was  the  timorous,  cruel,  iniquitous 
Perth,  afterward  chancellor  of  Scotland,  and  the  amiable, 
learned,  and  ingenious  Barclay  who  became  nominally  the 
governor  of  the  territory,  a  new  and  last  patent  of  East  New 
Jersey  was  granted  by  the  duke  of  York.  From  Scotland 
the  largest  emigration  was  expected ;  and,  in  1685,  just  before 
embarking  for  America  with  his  own  family  and  about  two 
hundred  passengers,  George  Scot,  of  Pitlochie,  addressed  to 
his  countrymen  an  argument  in  favor  of  removing  to  a  coun- 
try where  there  was  room  for  a  man  to  flourish  without 
wronging  his  neighbor.  "  It  is  judged  the  interest  of  the 
government " — ^thus  he  wrote,  apparently  with  the  sanction  of 
men  in  power — "to  suppress  Presbyterian  principles  alto- 
gether ;  the  whole  force  of  the  law  of  this  kingdom  is  levelled 


1679-1686.         CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  NORTH.  579 

at  the  effectual  bearing  them  down.  The  rigorous  putting 
these  laws  in  execution  hath  in  a  great  part  ruined  many  of 
those  who,  notwithstanding  thereof,  find,  themselves  in  con- 
science obliged  to  retain  these  principles.  A  retreat  where, 
by  law,  a  toleration  is  allowed,  doth  at  present  offer  itself  in 
America,  and  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  his  majesty's 
dominions." 

This  is  the  era  at  which  East  New  Jersey,  till  now  chiefly 
colonized  from  New  England,  became  the  asylum  of  Scottish 
Presbyterians.  Who  has  not  heard  of  the  ruthless  crimes  by 
which  the  Stuarts  attempted  to  supplant  the  church  of  Scot- 
land, and  extirpate  the  faith  of  a  whole  people  ?  To  whom 
has  the  tale  not  been  told  of  the  defeat  of  Graham  of  Claver- 
house  on  Loudon  Hill,  and  the  subsequent  rout  of  the  insur- 
gent fanatics  at  Bothwell  Bridge?  Of  the  Cameronians, 
hunted  like  beasts  of  prey,  and  exasperated  by  sufferings  and 
despair  ?  refusing,  in  face  of  the  gallows,  to  say,  "  God  save 
the  king ; "  and  charged  even  by  their  wives  to  die  for  the 
good  old  cause  of  the  covenant  ?  ^'  I  am  but  twenty,"  said  an 
innocent  girl  at  her  execution,  in  1680  ;  "  and  they  can  accuse 
me  of  nothing  but  my  judgment."  The  boot  and  the  thumbi- 
kins  could  not  extort  confessions.  The  condemnation  of 
Argyle  displayed,  in  1681,  the  prime  nobility  as  '^  the  vilest 
of  mankind ; "  and  wide-spread  cruelty  exhausted  itself  in 
devising  punishments.  In  1683,  just  after  the  grant  of  East 
New  Jersey,  a  proclamation,  unparalleled  since  the  days  when 
Alva  drove  the  Netherlands  into  independence,  proscribed  all 
who  had  ever  communed  with  rebels,  and  put  twenty  thou- 
sand lives  at  the  mercy  of  informers.  "  It  were  better,"  said 
Lauderdale,  ^'  the  country  bore  windle  straws  and  sand  larks 
than  boor  rebels  to  the  king."  After  the  insurrection  of 
Monmouth,  in  1684,  the  sanguinary  excesses  of  despotic  re- 
venge were  revived,  gibbets  erected  in  villages  to  intimidate 
the  people,  and  soldiers  intrusted  with  the  execution  of  the 
laws.  Scarce  a  Presbyterian  family  in  Scotland  but  was  in- 
volved in  proscriptions  or  penalties  ;  the  jails  overflowed,  and 
their  tenants  were  sold  as  slaves  to  the  plantations. 

Maddened  by  the  succession  of  military  murders ;  driven 
from  their  homes  to  caves,  from  caves  to  morasses  and  moun- 


580    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xvn. 

tains ;  bringing  death  to  the  inmates  of  a  house  that  should 
shelter  them,  death  to  the  benefactor  that  should  throw  them 
food,  death  to  the  friend  that  listened  to  their  complaint, 
death  to  the  wife  or  the  father  that  still  dared  to  solace  a 
husband  or  a  son ;  ferreted  out  by  spies ;  hunted  with  packs 
of  dogs — the  fanatics  turned  upon  their  pursuers,  and  threat- 
ened to  retaliate  on  the  men  who  should  continue  to  imbrue 
their  hands  in  blood.  The  council  retorted  by  ordering  a 
massacre.  He  that  would  not  take  the  oath  should  be  exe- 
cuted, though  unarmed ;  and  the  recusants  were  shot  on  the 
roads,  or  as  they  labored  in  the  fields,  or  as  they  stood  in 
prayer.  To  fly  was  a  confession  of  guilt ;  to  excite  suspicion 
was  sentence  of  death;  to  own  the  covenant  was  treason. 
The  houses  of  the  victims  were  set  on  fire,  their  families 
shipped  for  the  colonies.  "  It  never  will  be  well  with  Scot- 
land till  the  country  south  of  the  Forth  is  reduced  to  a  hunt- 
ing-field." The  remark  is  ascribed  to  James.  "  I  doubt  not, 
sir,  but  to  be  able  to  propose  a  way  how  to  gratifie  all  such 
as  your  majestic  shall  be  pleased  to  thinke  deserving  of  it, 
without  touching  your  exchequer,"  wrote  Jeffries  to  James 
II.,  just  as  he  had  passed  sentence  of  transportation  on  hun- 
dreds of  Monmouth's  English  followers.  James  II.  sent  the 
hint  to  the  north,  and  in  Scotland  the  business  was  equally 
well  understood.  The  indemnity  proclaimed  in  1685,  on  the 
accession  of  James  II.,  was  an  act  of  delusive  clemency. 
Every  day  wretched  fugitives  were  tried  by  a  jury  of  soldiers, 
and  executed  in  clusters  on  the  highways ;  women,  fastened 
to  stakes  beneath  the  sea-mark,  were  drowned  by  the  rising 
tide ;  the  dungeons  were  crowded  with  men  perishing  for 
want  of  water  and  air.  Of  the  shoals  transported  to  America, 
women  were  often  burnt  in  the  cheek,  men  marked  by  lopping 
off  their  ears. 

From  1682  to  1687,  Scottish  Presbyterians  of  virtue,  edu- 
cation, and  courage,  blending  a  love  of  popular  liberty  with 
religious  enthusiasm,  hurried  to  East  New  Jersey  in  such 
numbers  as  to  give  to  the  rising  commonwealth  a  character 
which  a  century  and  a  half  did  not  efface.  In  1686,  after  the 
judicial  murder  of  the  duke  of  Argyle,  his  brother.  Lord 
Neill  Campbell,  who  had  purchased  the  proprietary  right  of 


1682-1685.  CONSOLIDATION"  OF  THE  NORTH.  581 

Sir  George  Mackenzie,  and  in  the  previous  year  had  sent  over 
a  large  number  of  settlers,  came  himself  to  act  for  a  few 
months  as  chief  magistrate.  When  Campbell  withdrew,  the 
executive  power,  weakened  by  transfers,  was  intrusted  by  him 
to  Andrew  Hamilton.  The  territory,  easy  of  access,  flanked 
on  the  west  by  outposts  of  Quakers,  was  the  abode  of  peace 
and  abundance,  of  deep  religious  faith  and  honest  industry. 
Peaches  and  vines  flourished  on  the  river  sides,  the  woods 
were  crimsoned  with  strawberries,  and  "  brave  oysters " 
abounded  along  the  shore.  Brooks  and  rivulets,  with  "curi- 
ous clear  water,"  were  as  frequent  as  in  the  dear  native  Scot- 
land ;  the  houses  of  the  towns,  unlike  the  pent  villages  of  the 
Old  World,  were  scattered  upon  the  several  lots  and  farms ; 
the  highways  were  so  broad  that  flocks  of  sheep  could  nibble 
by  the  roadside ;  horses  multiplied  in  the  woods.  In  a  few 
years,  a  law  of  the  commonwealth,  giving  force  to  the  com- 
mon principle  of  the  ^N^ew  England  and  the  Scottish  Calvin- 
ists,  established  a  system  of  free  schools.  It  was  "  a  gallant, 
plentiful "  country,  where  the  humblest  laborer  might  soon 
turn  farmer  for  himself.  In  all  its  borders,  said  Gawen  Laurie, 
the  faithful  Quaker  merchant,  who  had  been  Rudyard's  suc- 
cessor, "  there  is  not  a  poor  body,  or  one  that  wants." 

The  mixed  character  of  New  Jersey  springs  from  the 
different  sources  of  its  people.  Puritans,  Covenanters,  and 
Quakers  met  on  her  soil ;  and  their  faith,  institutions,  and 
preferences,  having  life  in  the  common  mind,  survive  the 
Stuarts. 

Everything  breathed  hope,  but  for  the  arbitrary  cupidity 
of  James  II.,  and  the  navigation  acts.  Dyer,  the  collector, 
eager  to  levy  a  tax  on  the  commerce  of  the  colony,  com- 
plained of  their  infringement ;  in  April,  1686,  a  writ  of  quo 
warranto  against  the  proprietaries  menaced  New  Jersey  with 
being  made  "  more  dependent."  It  was  of  no  avail  to  appeal 
to  the  justice  of  King  James,  who  revered  the  prerogative 
with  idolatry  ;  and,  in  1688,  to  stay  the  process  for  forfeiture, 
the  proprietaries,  stipulating  only  for  their  right  of  property 
in  the  soil,  surrendered  their  claim  to  the  jurisdiction.  The 
province  was  annexed  to  New  York. 

In   New  York,  the   attempt  to   levy  customs  without  a 


582    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    part  ii.  ;  ch.  xvn. 

colonial  assembly  had  been  defeated,  in  Marcb,  1682,  bj  the 
grand  jury,  and  trade  became  free  just  as  Andros  was  return- 
ing to  England.  All  parties  joined  in  entreating  for  the  peo- 
ple a  share  in  legislation.  The  duke  of  York  temporized. 
The  provincial  revenue  had  expired ;  the  ablest  lawyers  in 
England  questioned  his  right  to  renew  it ;  the  province  op- 
posed its  collection  with  a  spirit  that  required  compliance,  and 
in  January,  1683,  the  newly  appointed  governor,  Thomas  Don- 
gan,  nephew  of  Tyrconnell,  a  Koman  Catholic,  was  instructed 
to  call  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  freeholders  by  the  per- 
sons whom  they  should  choose  to  represent  them.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  seventeenth  of  the  following  October,  about 
seventy  years  after  Manhattan  was  first  occupied,  about  thirty 
years  after  the  demand  of  the  popular  convention  by  the 
Dutch,  the  people  of  New  York  met  in  assembly,  and  by  their 
first  act  claimed  the  rights  of  Englishmen.  "  Supreme  legis- 
lative power,"  such  was  their  further  declaration,  "shall  for 
ever  be  and  reside  in  the  governor,  council,  and  people,  met 
in  general  assembly.  Every  freeholder  and  freeman  shall 
vote  for  representation  without  restraint.  No  freeman  shall 
suffer  but  by  judgment  of  his  peers;  and  all  trials  shall  be 
by  a  jury  of  twelve  men.  No  tax  shall  be  assessed,  on  any 
pretence  whatever,  but  by  the  consent  of  the  assembly.  No 
seaman  or  soldier  shall  be  quartered  on  the  inhabitants  against 
their  will.  No  martial  law  shall  exist.  No  person,  professing 
faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  shall  at  any  time  be  any  ways 
disquieted  or  questioned  for  any  difference  of  opinion."  So 
New  York,  by  its  self-enacted  "  charter  of  franchises  and 
privileges,"  took  its  place  by  the  side  of  Virginia  and  Massa- 
chusetts, surpassing  them  both  in  religious  toleration.  The 
proprietary  accepted  the  revenue  granted  by  the  legislature 
for  a  limited  period,  permitted  another  session  to  be  held,  and 
promised  to  make  no  alterations  in  the  form  or  manner  of  the 
bill  containing  the  franchises  and  privileges  of  the  colony,  ex- 
cept for  its  advantage ;  but  in  1685,  in  less  than  a  month  after 
he  had  ascended  the  throne,  James  II.  prepared  to  overturn 
the  institutions  which,  as  duke  of  York,  he  had  conceded.  A 
direct  tax  was  decreed  by  an  ordinance ;  the  titles  to  real  estate 
were  questioned,  that  larger  fees  and  quit-rents  might  be  ex- 


1609-1645.         CONSOLIDATION   OF  THE  NORTH.  583 

torted;  and  of  the  farmers  of  Easthampton  who  protested 
against  the  tyranny,  six  were  arraigned  before  the  council. 

The  governor  of  New  York  had  been  instructed  to  pre- 
serve friendly  relations  with  the  French ;  but  Dongan  refused 
to  neglect  the  Five  Nations,  and  sought  to  divert  their  com- 
merce to  the  New  York  traders  by  a  reciprocal  amnesty  of  past 
injuries. 

The  Oneida,  Onondaga,  and  Cayuga  warriors  had  left 
bloody  traces  of  their  inroads  along  the  Susquehanna  and  near 
the  highlands  of  Virginia.  The  impending  struggle  with  New 
France  quickened  their  desire  to  renew  peace  with  the  Eng- 
lish ;  and  in  July,  1684,  the  deputies  from  the  Mohawks  and 
the  three  offending  tribes,  soon  joined  by  the  Senecas,  met  the 
governors  of  New  York  and  Virginia  at  Albany. 

After  listening  to  the  complaints  and  pacific  proposals  of 
Lord  Howard  of  Effingham,  Cadianne,  the  Mohawk  orator,  on 
the  fourteenth  rebuked  the  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  and  Cayugas 
for  their  want  of  faith,  and  expressed  gladness  that  the  past 
was  to  be  buried  in  the  pit.  "  The  covenant,"  he  said,  "  must 
be  preserved  ;  the  fire  of  love  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and 
of  the  Five  Nations,  burns  in  this  place  ;  this  house  of  peace 
must  be  kept  clean.  We  plant  a  tree  whose  top  shall  touch 
the  sun,  whose  branches  shall  be  seen  afar.  We  will  shelter 
ourselves  under  it,  and  live  in  unmolested  peace." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  each  of  the  three  nations 
of  wrong-doers  gave  a  hatchet  to  be  buried.  "  We  bury  none 
for  ourselves,"  said  the  Mohawks,  ''  for  we  have  never  broken 
the  ancient  chain."  The  axes  were  buried,  and  the  offending 
tribes  in  noisy  rapture  chanted  the  song  of  peace. 

"Brother  Corker,"  said  a  chief  for  the  Onondagas  and 
Cayugas,  in  August,  "  your  sachem  is  a  great  sachem,  and  we 
are  a  small  people."  "  When  the  English  came  first  to  Man- 
hattan, to  Virginia,  and  to  Maryland,  they  were  a  small  people, 
and  we  were  great.  Because  we  found  you  a  good  people,  we 
treated  you  kindly,  and  gave  you  land.  Now,  therefore,  that 
you  are  great  and  we  small,  we  hope  you  will  protect  us  from 
the  French.  They  are  angry  with  us  because  we  carry  beaver 
to  our  brethren." 

The  envoys  of  the  Senecas,  on  the  fifth,  told  their  delight 


584    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xvii. 

that  the  tomahawk  was  buried,  and  all  evil  put  away  from  the 
hearts  of  the  English.  The  sachems  returned  to  nail  the  armsL 
of  the  duke  of  York  over  their  castles,  a  protection,  as  they 
thought,  against  the  French,  an  acknowledgment,  as  the  Eng- 
lish assumed,  of  British  sovereignty. 

Among  the  chiefs,  especially  among  the  Onondagas,  there 
were  those  who  were  jealous  of  English  supremacy,  and  desired 
to  secure  their  own  independence  by  balancing  the  French 
against  the  English.  The  French,  they  said,  they  had  for  ten 
years  called  their  father  as  they  had  called  the  English  their 
brother;  "but,"  said  an  Onondaga  chief,  "it  is  because  we 
have  willed  it  so.  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  is  our  master ; 
we  are  free ;  we  are  brethren  ;  we  must  take  care  of  ourselves." 
Yet  the  English  claimed  the  domain  of  the  Iroquois  south  of 
the  lakes  as  subject  to  England,  and  set  no  bounds  to  their 
traffic  with  the  red  men.  In  the  summer  of  1686  a  party  of 
their  traders  penetrated  even  to  Michihmackinac.  The  limits 
between  the  English  and  French  never  were  settled,  but  at  that 
time  the  Five  ^N'ations  of  themselves  were  a  sufficient  bulwark 
against  encroachments  from  Canada. 

The  alarm  of  Massachusetts  at  the  loss  of  its  charter,  in 
1685,  had  been  increased  by  the  report  that  Kirke,  afterward 
infamous  for  military  massacres  in  the  west  of  England,  was 
destined  for  its  governor.  It  was  a  relief  to  find  that  Joseph 
Dudley,  a  degenerate  son  of  the  colony,  was  intrusted  for  a 
season  with  the  highest  powers  of  magistracy  over  the  country 
from  Narragansett  to  'Noysl  Scotia.  The  general  court,  in 
session  at  his  arrival,  and  unprepared  for  open  resistance,  dis- 
solved their  assembly,  and  returned  in  sadness  to  their  homes. 
The  charter  government  was  publicly  displaced  by  the  arbi- 
trary commission,  popular  representation  abolished,  and  the 
press  subjected  to  the  censorship  of  Randolph, 
--f-  On  the  twentieth  of  December,  1686,  Sir  Edmund- Andros, 
glittering  in  scarlet  and  lace,  landed  at  Boston,  as  governor  of 
all  New  England.  He  was  authorized  to  remove  and  appoint 
members  of  his  council,  and,  with  their  consent,  to  make  laws, 
lay  taxes,  and  control  the  mihtia  of  the  country.  He  was  in- 
structed to  tolerate  no  printing-press,  to  encourage  Episco- 
pacy, and  to  sustain  authority  by  force.     From  New  York 


1686-1688.         CONSOLIDATION-  OF  THE  NORTH.  585 

came  West  as  secretary.  In  the  council  there  were  four  sub- 
servient members,  of  whom  but  one  was  a  Kew  England  man. 
The  other  members  formed  a  fruitless  but  united  opposition. 
"  His  excellency,"  said  Kandolph,  "  has  to  do  with  a  perverse 
people." 

Personal  liberty  and  the  customs  of  the  country  were  dis- 
regarded. JSTone  might  leave  the  colony  without  a  special 
permit.  Probate  fees  were  increased  almost  twenty  fold. 
"West,"  says  Randolph — for  dishonest  men  betray  one  an- 
other— "  extorts  what  fees  he  pleases,  to  the  great  oppression 
of  the  people,  and  renders  the  present  government  grievous." 
To  the  scrupulous  Puritans,  the  idolatrous  custom  of  laying 
the  hand  on  the  Bible,  in  taking  an  oath,  operated  as  a  widely 
disfranchising  test. 

The  Episcopal  service  had  never  yet  been  performed  within 
Massachusetts  bay  except  by  the  chaplain  of  the  hated  com- 
mission of  1665.  Its  day  of  liberty  was  come.  Andros  de- 
manded one  of  the  meeting-houses  for  the  church.  The 
wrongs  of  a  century  crowded  on  the  memories  of  the  Puritans, 
as  they  answered :  "  We  cannot  with  a  good  conscience  con- 
sent." Goodman  Needham  declared  he  would  not  ring  the 
bell ;  but  at  the  appointed  hour  the  bell  rung ;  and  the  love 
of  liberty  did  not  expire,  even  though,  in  a  Boston  meeting- 
house, the  Common  Prayer  was  read  in  a  surplice.  By  and 
by  the  people  were  desired  to  contribute  toward  erecting  a 
church.  "  The  bishops,"  answered  Sewall,  "  would  have 
thought  strange  to  have  been  asked  to  contribute  toward  set- 
ting up  New  England  churches." 

At  the  instance  and  with  the  special  concurrence  of  James 
II.,  a  tax  of  a  penny  in  the  pound  and  a  poll-tax  of  twenty 
pence,  with  a  subsequent  increase  of  duties,  were  laid  by 
Andros  and  his  council.  The  towns  generally  refused  pay- 
ment. Wilbore,  of  Taunton,  was  imprisoned  for  writing  a 
protest.  To  the  people  of  Ipswich,  then  the  second  town  in 
the  colony,  in  town-meeting,  elohn  Wise,  the  minister  who 
used  to  assert,  "  Democracy  is  Christ's  government  in  church 
and  state,"  advised  resistance.  "  We  have,"  said  he,  "  a  good 
God  and  a  good  king ;  we  shall  do  well  to  stand  to  our  privi- 
leges."    "  You  have  no  privilege,"  answered  one  of  the  coun- 

TOL.    L— 32 


586     BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.     part  ii.  ;  oh.  xvrc 

cil,  after  the  arraignment  of  Wise  and  the  selectmen  ;  "  you 
have  no  privilege  left  you  but  not  to  be  sold  as  slaves."  "  Do 
you  believe,"  demanded  Andros,  "  Joe  and  Tom  may  tell  the 
king  what  money  he  may  have  ? "  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
was  withheld.  The  prisoners  pleaded  Magna  Charta.  "  Do 
not  think,"  replied  one  of  the  judges,  "  the  laws  of  England 
follow  you  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  And  in  his  charge  to 
the  packed  jury  Dudley  spoke  plainly  :  "  Worthy  gentlemen, 
we  expect  a  good  verdict  from  you."  The  verdict  followed ; 
and  after  imprisonment  came  heavy  fines  and  partial  dis- 
franchisements. 

Oppression  threatened  the  country  with  ruin ;  and  the  op- 
pressors, quoting  an  opinion  current  among  the  mercantile 
monopolists  of  England,  answered  without  disguise :  "  It  is 
not  for  his  majesty's  interest  you  should  thrive." 

The  taxes,  in  amount  not  grievous,  were  for  public  pur- 
poses.  But  the  lean  wolves  of  tyranny  were  themselves  hun- 
gry for  spoils.  It  was  the  intention  of  King  James  that  "  their 
several  properties,  according  to  their  ancient  records,"  should 
be  granted  them ;  the  fee  for  the  grants  was  the  excuse  for 
extortion.  "  All  the  inhabitants,"  wrote  Eandolph,  "  must 
take  new  grants  of  their  lands,  which  will  bring  in  vast  prof- 
its." Indeed,  there  was  not  money  enough  in  the  country  to 
have  paid  the  exorbitant  fees  which  were  demanded. 

The  colonists  pleaded  their  charter ;  but  grants  under  the 
charter  were  declared  void  by  its  forfeiture.  Lynde,  of 
Charlestown,  produced  an  Indian  deed.  It  was  pronounced 
"worth  no  more  than  the  scratch  of  a  bear's  paw."  Lands 
were  held  not  by  a  feudal  tenure,  but  under  grants  from  the 
general  court  to  towns,  and  from  towns  to  individuals.  The 
town  of  Lynn  produced  its  records ;  they  were  slighted  "  as 
not  worth  a  rush."  Others  pleaded  possession  and  use  of  the 
land.  "  You  take  possession,"  it  was  answered,  "  for  the  king." 
"The  men  of  Massachusetts  did  much  quote  Lord  Coke;" 
but,  defeated  in  argument  by  Andros,  who  was  a  good  lawyer, 
John  Higginson,  minister  of  Salem,  went  back  from  the  com- 
mon law  of  England  to  the  book  of  Genesis,  and,  recalling 
that  God  gave  the  earth  to  the  sons  of  Adam  to  be  subdued 
and  replenished,  declared  that  the  people  of  New  England 


1688.  CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  NORTH.  537 

held  their  lands  "  by  the  grand  charter  from  God."  At 
this,  Andros,  incensed,  bade  him  approve  himself  "  a  subject 
or  a  rebel."  The  lands  reserved  for  the  poor,  generally  all 
common  lands,  were  appropriated  by  favorites ;  writs  of  in- 
trusion were  multiplied ;  and  fees,  amounting,  in  some  cases, 
to  one  fourth  the  value  of  an  estate,  were  exacted  for  grant- 
ing a  patent  to  its  owner.  A  selected  jury  offered  no  re- 
lief. "  Our  condition,"  said  Danforth,  "  is  little  inferior  to 
absolute  slavery ; "  and  the  people  of  Lynn  afterward  gave 
thanks  to  God  for  their  escape  from  the  worst  of  bondage. 
"  The  governor  invaded  liberty  and  property  after  such  a 
manner,"  said  the  temperate  Increase  Mather,  "as  no  man 
could  say  anything  was  his  own." 

By  the  additional  powers  and  instructions  of  June,  1686, 
Andros  was  authorized  to  demand  the  Rhode  Island  char- 
ter, and  to  receive  that  of  Connecticut,  if  tendered  to  him. 
Against  the  charter  of  Rhode  Island  a  writ  of  quo  warranto 
had  been  issued.  The  judgment  against  Massachusetts  left 
no  hope  of  protection  from  courts  submissive  to  the  royal 
will ;  and  the  towns  resolved  not  "  to  stand  suit,"  but  to  ap- 
peal to  the  conscience  of  the  king  for  the  "privileges  and 
liberties  granted  by  Charles  II.,  of  blessed  memory."  Soon 
after  the  arrival  of  Andros  he  had  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  charter.  Walter  Clarke,  the  governor,  insisted  on  wait- 
ing for  "  a  fitter  season."  Repairing  to  Rhode  Island,  Andros, 
in  January,  1687,  dissolved  its  government  and  broke  its  seal ; 
^Ye  of  its  citizens  were  appointed  members  of  his  council,  and 
a  commission,  irresponsible  to  the  people,  was  substituted  for 
the  suspended  system  of  freedom.  That  these  magistrates 
levied  moderate  taxes,  payable  in  wool  or  other  produce,  is 
evident  from  the  records.  It  was  pretended  that  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island  were  satisfied,  and  did  not  so  much  as  peti- 
tion for  their  charter  again. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  Andros,  attended  by 
some  of  his  council  and  by  an  armed  guard,  set  forth  to  as- 
sume the  government  of  Connecticut.  Dongan  had  in  vain 
solicited  the  people  of  Connecticut  to  submit  to  his  jurisdic- 
tion ;  but  least  of  all  were  they  willing  to  hazard  the  continu- 
ance of  liberty  on  the  decision  of  the  dependent  English 


588    BBITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    part  n. ;  oh.  xvn. 

courts.  On  the  third  writ  of  quo  warranto,  the  colony,  in  a 
petition  to  the  king,  asserted  its  chartered  rights,  yet  desired, 
in  any  event,  rather  to  share  the  fortunes  of  Massachusetts 
than  to  be  annexed  to  New  York.  Andros  found  the  assem- 
bly in  session,  and,  on  the  thirty-first  of  October,  demanded 
the  surrender  of  its  charter.  The  brave  governor  Treat  plead- 
ed earnestly  for  the  cherished  patent,  which  had  been  pur- 
chased by  sacrifices  and  martyrdoms,  and  was  endeared  by 
halcyon  days.  The  shades  of  evening  descended  during  the 
prolonged  discussion ;  an  anxious  crowd  had  gathered  to  wit- 
ness the  debate.  Tradition  loves  to  relate  that  the  charter 
lay  on  the  table;  that  of  a  sudden  the  lights  were  extin- 
guished, and,  when  they  were  rekindled,  the  charter  had  dis- 
appeared. It  is  certain  that  "in  this  very  troublesome  season, 
when  the  constitution  of  Connecticut  was  struck  at.  Captain 
Joseph  Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  rendered  fruitful  and  good 
service  in  securing  the  duplicate  charter  of  the  colony,  and 
safely  keeping  and  preserving  the  same  "  for  nearly  eight-and- 
twenty  years.  Meantime,  Andros  assumed  the  government, 
selected  councillors,  and,  demanding  the  records  of  Connecti- 
cut, to  the  annals  of  its  freedom  set  the  word  Finis.  One  of 
his  few  laws  prohibited  town-meetings  except  for  the  election 
of  officers.  The  colonists  submitted ;  yet  their  consciences 
were  afterward  "  troubled  at  their  hasty  surrender." 

While  Connecticut  lost  its  liberties,  the  eastern  frontier 
was  depopulated.  An  expedition,  in  1688,  against  the  French 
establishments,  which  have  left  a  name  to  Castine,  roused  the 
passions  of  the  neighboring  Indians  ;  and  Andros  made  a  vain 
pursuit  of  a  retreating  enemy,  who  had  for  their  allies  the 
forests  and  the  inclement  winter. 

In  July,  1688,  the  seaboard  from  Maryland  to  the  St.  Croix 
was  united  in  one  dominion,  with  Boston  for  its  capital,  and 
was  abandoned  to  Andros,  as  governor-general,  to  Randolph, 
as  secretary,  with  their  needy  associates.  But  the  impoverished 
country  disappointed  their  avarice.  The  eastern  part  of  Maine 
had  been  pillaged  by  agents,  who,  as  Randolph  himself  wrote, 
had  been  "  as  arbitrary  as  the  Grand  Turk ; ''  and  in  New 
York  there  was  "little  good  to  be  done,"  for  its  people  "had 
been  squeezed  dry  by  Dongan."     But,  on  the  arrival  of  the 


CONSOLIDATION  OF  THE  NOKTH.  539 

new  commission,  Andros  hastened  to  the  south  to  assume  the 
government  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

In  Massachusetts  *'  the  wicked  walked  on  every  side,  and 
the  vilest  men  were  exalted."  The  men  in  power  as  agents 
of  James  II.  established  an  arbitrary  government ;  as  men  in 
office,  they  coveted  large  emoluments. 

The  schools  of  learning,  formerly  so  well  taken  care  of, 
were  allowed  to  go  to  decay.  The  religious  institutions  were 
impaired  by  abolishing  the  methods  of  their  support.  "  It  is 
pleasant,"  said  the  foreign  agents  of  tyranny, ''  to  behold  poor 
coblers  and  pitiful  mechanics,  who  have  neither  home  nor 
land,  strutting  and  making  noe  mean  figure  at  their  elections, 
and  some  of  the  richest  merchants  and  wealthiest  of  the  peo- 
ple stand  by  as  insignificant  cyphers ; "  and  therefore  a  town- 
meeting  was  allowed  only  for  the  choice  of  town  officers. 
The  vote  by  ballot  was  rejected.  To  a  committee  from  Lynn, 
Andros  said  plainly :  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  town  in 
the  whole  country."  To  assemble  in  town-meeting  for  de- 
liberation was  an  act  of  sedition  or  a  riot. 

The  spirit  which  led  forth  the  colonies  of  'New  England 
kept  their  liberties  alive ;  in  the  general  gloom,  the  ministers 
preached  sedition  and  planned  resistance.  They  put  by  the 
annual  thanksgiving ;  and  at  private  fasts  besought  the  Lord 
to  repent  himself  for  his  servants,  whose  power  was  gone. 
Moody  was  confident  that  God  would  yet  "be  exalted  among 
the  heathen." 

On  the  Lord's  Day,  which  was  to  have  been  the  day  of 
thanksgiving  for  the  queen's  pregnancy,  the  church  was  much 
grieved  at  the  weakness  of  Allen,  who,  from  the  improved 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  gave  out  words  of  sympathy  with  the  joy  of 
the  king.  But  Willard,  while  before  prayer  he  read,  among 
many  other  notices,  the  occasion  of  the  governor's  gratitude, 
and,  after  Puritan  usage,  interceded  largely  for  the  king, 
"  otherwise  altered  not  his  course  one  jot,"  and,  as  the  crisis 
drew  near,  goaded  the  people  with  the  text :  "  Ye  have  not 
yet  resisted  unto  blood,  warring  against  sin." 


590  BEITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paktu.-  oh.  xviii. 


CHAPTEK  XYin, 

THE   REVOLUTION   OF    1688. 

Desperate  measures  were  postponed,  that  one  of  the 
ministers  might  make  an  appeal  to  the  king;  and  Increase 
Mather,  escaping  the  vigilance  of  Randolph,  embarked  on  the 
mission  for  redress.  But  relief  came  from  a  revolution  of 
which  the  influence  pervaded  the  world. 

On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the  Puritan  or  repubhV 
<jan  element  lost  all  hope  of  dominion  in  England;  and  its 
history  from  1660  to  1688  is  but  the  history  of  the  struggle 
for  a  compromise  between  the  republic  and  absolute  monar- 
chy. The  contest  was  continued,  yet  within  limits  so  narrow 
afi  never  to  endanger  the  existence,  or  even  question  the  right, 
of  monarchy  itself.  The  people  had  attempted  a  democratic 
revolution,  and  had  failed;  they  awaited  the  movements  of 
the  aristocracy. 

The  ministiy  of  Clarendon  in  1660,  the  first  after  the  res- 
toration, acknowledged  the  indefeasible  sovereignty  of  the 
king,  and  sought  in  the  prelates  and  nobility  natural  allies  for 
the  royal  prerogative.  Not  destitute  of  honest  nationality, 
nor  wholly  regardless  of  English  liberties,  it  renewed  intoler- 
ance in  religion  ;  and,  while  it  respected  a  balance  of  powers, 
claimed  the  preponderance  in  the  state  for  the  monarch. 
Twenty  years  of  indulgence  had  rendered  suppression  of  dis- 
sent more  than  ever  impossible ;  but,  as  no  general  election 
for  parliament  was  held,  a  change  of  ministry  could  be  ef- 
fected only  by  a  faction  within  the  palace.  The  royal  council 
sustained  Clarendon ;  the  rakes  about  court,  railing  at  his  mo- 
roseness,  echoed  the  popular  clamor  against  him.  His  over- 
throw, after  seven  years'  service,  "  was  certainly  designed  in 


1668-1679.  THE  KEVOLUTION  OF  1688.  59I 

Lady  Castlemaine's  chamber ; "  and,  afi  the  fallen  minister  re- 
tired at  noonday  from  the  audience  of  dismission,  she  "  blessed 
herself  at  the  old  man"'s  going  away." 

England  had  demanded  a  liberaL  ministry  ;  it  obtained  a 
dissolute  one:  it  had  demanded  a  ministry  not  enslaved  to 
prelacy ;  from  1668  to  1671  it  obtained  one  careless  of  every- 
thing but  pleasure.  Buckingham,  the  noble  buffoon  at  its 
head,  ridiculed  bishops  as  well  as  sermons;  and  when  the 
Quakers  went  to  him  with  their  hats  on,  to  discourse  on  the 
equal  rights  of  every  conscience,  he  told  them  that  he  was  at 
heart  in  favor  of  their  principle.  English  honor  and  English 
finances  were  wrecked ;  but  the  progress  of  the  nation  toward 
internal  freedom  was  no  longer  opposed  with  steadfast  consis- 
tency; and  England  was  better  satisfied  than  it  had  been 
with  Clarendon. 

As  the  tendency  of  public  affairs  became  apparent,  a  new 
division  necessarily  followed :  the  king,  from  1671  to  1673, 
was  surrounded  by  men  who  still  desired  to  uphold  the  pre- 
rogative ;  while  Shaftesbury,  "  unwilling  to  hurt  the  king,  yet 
desiring  to  keep  him  tame  in  a  cage ; "  averse  to  the  bishops, 
because  the  bishops  would  place  prerogative  above  liberty; 
averse  to  democracy,  because  democracy  would  substitute 
equality  for  privilege — in  organizing  a  party,  afterward  known 
as  the  whig  party,  suited  himself  to  the  spirit  of  the  times.  It 
was  an  age  of  progress  toward  liberty  of  conscience  ;  Shaftes- 
bury favored  toleration :  the  vast  increase  of  commercial  ac- 
tivity claimed  for  the  moneyed  interest  an  influence  in  the 
government ;  Shaftesbury  lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  merchants ; 
but  he  did  not  so  much  divide  dominion  with  the  merchants 
and  the  Presbyterians  as  offer  them  the  patronage  of  his  order 
in  return  for  their  support ;  having  for  his  riiain  object  to 
keep  "  the  bucket "  of  the  aristocracy  from  sinking.  The 
declaration  of  indulgence  in  1672,  an  act  of  high  prerogative, 
yet  directed  against  the  friends  of  prerogative,  was  his  meas- 
ure. Immediately  freedom  of  conscience  awakened  in  Eng- 
lish industry  unparalleled  energies ;  and  Shaftesbury,  the  skep- 
tic chancellor,  was  eulogized  as  the  saviour  of  religion.  Had 
the  king  been  firm,  the  measure  would  probably  have  suc- 
ceeded.    He  wavered,  for  he  distrusted  the  dissenters ;  the 


592    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.   paet  n. ;  oh.  xviii. 

Presbyterians  wavered,  for  how  could  tliey  be  satisfied  witli 
relief  dependent  on  the  royal  pleasure  ?  The  seal  of  the  dec- 
laration was  broken  in  the  king's  presence ;  and  Shaftesbury, 
turning  upon  his  fickle  sovereign,  courted  a  popular  party  by 
a  test  act  against  papists,  and  by  a  bill  in  parliament  for  the 
ease  of  Protestant  dissenters. 

Under  the  lord  treasurer,  Danby,  the  old  cavaliers  recov- 
ered power  from  1673  to  1679.  It  was  the  day  for  statues  to 
Charles  I.  and  new  cathedrals.  To  win  strength  for  his  party, 
Danby  was  willing  to  aid  in  crushing  popery,  and  promoting 
belief  in  a  popish  plot.  But  Shaftesbury  was  already  sure  of 
the  merchants  and  dissenters,  and  exclaimed  :  "  Let  the  treas- 
urer cry  as  loud  as  he  pleases ;  I  will  cry  a  note  louder,  and 
soon  take  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  plot ; "  and,  indifferent 
to  perjuries  and  judicial  murders,  he  succeeded.  In  the  house 
of  commons  Danby  preferred  a  perpetual  parliament  to  the 
hazard  of  a  new  election,  and,  by  pensions  and  rewards,  pur- 
chased a  majority.  But  knavery  has  a  wisdom  of  its  own  ; 
the  profligate  members  had  a  fixed  maxim,  never  to  grant 
him  so  much  at  once  that  they  should  cease  to  be  needed ; 
and,  discovering  his  intrigues  for  drawing  a  permanent  reve- 
nue from  France,  in  January,  1679,  they  impeached  him.  To 
save  the  minister,  this  longest  of  English  parliaments  was 
dissolved. 

When,  after  nineteen  years,  the  people  of  England  were 
once  more  allowed  to  elect  representatives,  Shaftesbury,  whom, 
for  his  restlessness  and  his  diminutive  stature,  the  king  called 
Little  Sincerity,  was  enabled  by  the  great  majority  against 
the  court  to  force  himself  upon  the  reluctant  monarch  as  lord 
president  of  the  council.  The  event,  which  took  place  on 
the  twenty-first  of  April,  is  an  era  in  English  history  ;  Shaftes- 
bury was  the  first  British  statesman  to  attain  the  guidance  of 
a  ministry  through  parliament  by  means  of  an  organized 
party  against  the  wishes  of  the  king.  A  bill  for  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  duke  of  York  from  the  succession  was  introduced 
into  the  house  of  commons  as  a  measure  of  the  ministry  ;  and 
the  young  men  cried  up  every  measure  against  the  duke  ; 
"like  so  many  young  spaniels,  that  run  and  bark  at  every 
lark  that  springs."     "  The  axe,"  wrote  Charles,  "  is  laid   to 


1679-1684.  THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1688.  5^8 

the  root ;  and  monarchy  must  go  down  too,  or  bow  exceed- 
ing low  before  the  almightj  power  of  parliament ; "  and  just 
after  Shaftesbury,  who,  as  chancellor,  had  opened  the  prison- 
doors  of  Bunyan,  now,  as  president  of  the  council,  had  car- 
ried the  habeas  corpus  act,  he  was  dismissed,  and  the  commons 
were  prorogued  and  dissolved.  From  May,  1679,  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Stuarts  inclined  to  absolutism. 

Immediately  a  plan  of  universal  agitation  was  begun  to 
rouse  the  spirit  of  the  nation.  Under  the  influence  of  Shaftes- 
bury, on  Queen  Elizabeth's  night,  the  fifth  of  October,  1679, 
a  vast  procession,  bearing  devices  and  wax  figures  represent- 
ing nuns  and  monks,  bishops  in  copes  and  mitres,  and  bishops 
in  lawn,  cardinals  in  red  caps,  and,  last  of  all,  the  pope  of 
Home,  side  by  side  in  a  litter  with  the  devil,  moved  through 
the  streets  of  London,  under  the  glare  of  thousands  of  flam- 
beaux, and  in  the  presence  of  two  hundred  thousand  specta- 
tors ;  the  disobedient  Monmouth  was  welcomed  with  bonfires 
and  peals  of  bells ;  a  panic  was  created,  as  if  every  Protest- 
ant freeman  were  to  be  massacred ;  the  kingdom  was  divided 
into  districts  among  committees  to  procure  petitions  for  a 
parliament,  one  of  which  had  twenty  thousand  signatures  and 
measured  three  hundred  feet ;  and  at  last  the  most  cherished 
Anglo-Saxon  institution  was  made  to  do  service,  when,  in 
June,  1680,  Shaftesbury,  proceeding  to  Westminster,  repre- 
sented to  the  grand  jury  the  mighty  dangers  from  popery,  in- 
dicted the  duke  of  York  as  a  recusant,  and  reported  the  duch- 
ess of  Portsmouth,  the  king's  new  mistress,  as  "a  common 
neusance."  The  agitation  was  successful ;  in  these  two  suc- 
cessive parliaments  of  1680  and  1681,  in  each  of  which  men 
who  were  at  heart  dissenters  had  the  majority,  the  bill  for 
excluding  the  duke  of  York  was  passed  by  triumphant  votes 
in  the  house  of  commons,  and  defeated  only  by  the  lords  and 
the  king. 

The  public  mind,  firm,  even  to  superstition,  in  its  respect 
for  hereditary  succession,  was  not  ripe  for  the  measure  of 
exclusion.  After  less  than  a  week's  session,  Charles  II.  dis- 
solved the  last  parliament  of  his  reign.  His  friends  declared 
him  to  have  no  other  purpose  than  to  resist  the  arbitrary  sway 
of  "  a  republican  prelacy,"  and  the  installation  of  the  multi- 


594    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    part  ii. ;  ch.  xvm. 

tude  in  tlie  chair  of  infallibility;  the  ferocious  intolerance 
which  had  sustained  the  popish  plot  lost  its  credit;  and  at 
the  moment  men  dreaded  anarchy  and  civil  war  more  than 
they  feared  the  royal  prerogative. 

The  king  had  already  exercised  the  power  of  restricting 
the  liberty  of  the  press ;  through  judges,  who  held  places  at 
his  pleasure,  he  was  supreme  in  the  courts ;  omitting  to  con- 
voke parliament,  he  made  himself  irresponsible  to  the  people ; 
pursuing  a  judicial  warfare  against  city  charters  and  the  mo- 
nopolies of  boroughs,  he  reformed  many  real  abuses,  but  at  the 
same  time  subjected  corporations  to  his  influence ;  control- 
ling the  appointment  of  sheriffs,  he  controlled  the  nomina- 
tion of  juries ;  and  thus,  in  the  last  three  or  four  years  of  the 
reign  of  King  Charles  IL,  the  government  of  England  was  ad- 
ministered as  an  absolute  monarchy.  An  "  association  "  against 
the  duke  of  York  could  not  succeed  among  a  calculating  aris- 
tocracy, as  the  Scottish  covenant  had  done  among  a  faithful 
people ;  and,  on  its  disclosure  and  defeat,  the  self -exile  of 
Shaftesbury  excited  no  plebeian  regret.  No  deep  popular  in- 
dignation attended  Bussell  to  the  scaffold ;  and,  on  the  sev- 
enth of  December,  1683,  the  day  on  which  Algernon  Sid- 
ney, the  purest  martyr  to  aristocratic  liberty,  laid  his  head 
on  the  block,  the  university  of  Oxford  decreed  absolute  obe- 
dience to  be  the  character  of  the  church  of  England,  while 
parts  of  the  writings  of  Knox,  Milton,  and  Baxter  were 
pronounced  "false,  seditious,  and  impious,  heretical  and 
blasphemous,  infamous  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  de- 
structive of  all  government,"  and  were  therefore  ordered  to 
be  burnt. 

Liberty,  which  at  the  restoration  insane  loyalty  repressed 
in  the  public  thought  and  purpose,  glided  between  rakes  and 
the  king's  mistress  into  the  royal  councils.  Driven  from  the 
palace,  it  appealed  to  parliament  and  the  people,  and  won 
power  through  the  frenzied  antipathy  to  Roman  Catholics. 
Dismissed  from  parliament  by  its  dissolution,  from  the  people 
by  the  ebb  of  excitement,  it  concealed  itself  in  an  aristocratic 
association  and  a  secret  aristocratic  council.  Chased  from  its 
hiding-place  by  disclosures  and  executions,  and  having  no  hope 
from  parliament,  people,  the  press,  the  courts  of  justice,  or 


1685-1686.  THE  REVOLUTION   OF   1688.  595 

the  king,  it  left  the  soil  of  England,  and  fled  for  refuge  to 
the  prince  of  Orange. 

On  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  in  1685,  his  brother  ascended 
the  throne  without  opposition,  continued  taxes  by  his  prerog- 
ative, easily  suppressed  the  insurrection  of  Monmouth,  and 
under  the  new  system  of  charters  convened  a  parliament  so 
subservient  that  it  bowed  its  back  to  royal  chastisement.  The 
"  Presbyterian  rascals,"  the  troublesome  Calvinists,  who,  from 
the  days  of  Edward  YI.,  had  kept  English  liberty  alive,  were 
consigned  to  the  courts  of  law.  "  Eichard,"  said  Jeffries  to 
Baxter,  "  Richard,  thou  art  an  old  knave ;  thou  hast  written 
books  enough  to  load  a  cart,  every  one  as  full  of  sedition  as 
an  egg  is  full  of  meat.  I  know  thou  hast  a  mighty  party, 
and  a  great  many  of  the  brotherhood  are  waiting  in  corners 
to  see  what  will  become  of  their  mighty  Don ;  but,  by  the 
grace  of  Almighty  God,  I'll  crush  you  all ; "  and  the  docile 
jury  found  "  the  main  incendiary  "  guilty  of  sedition.  Fac- 
tion had  ebbed;  "rogues"  had  grown  out  of  fashion;  there 
was  nothing  left  for  them  but  to  "  thrive  in  the  plantations." 
The  royalist  Dryden  wrote : 

The  land  with  saints  is  so  run  o'er. 
And  every  age  produces  such  a  store. 
That  now  there's  need  of  two  New  Englands  more. 
To  understand  fully  the  revolution  which  followed,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  great  mass  of  dissenters  were 
struggling  for  liberty;  but,  checked  by  the  memory  of  the 
disastrous  issue  of  the  previous  revolution,  they  ranged  them- 
selves, with  deliberate  moderation,  under  the  more  liberal 
party  of  the  aristocracy.  Of  Cromwell's  army,  the  officers 
had  been,  "  for  the  most  part,  the  meanest  sort  of  men,  even 
brewers,  cobblers,  and  other  mechanics;"  recruits  for  the 
camp  of  William  of  Orange  were  led  by  bishops  and  the  high 
nobility.  There  was  a  vast  popular  movement,  but  it  was 
subordinate ;  the  proclamation  of  the  prince  took  notice  of 
the  people  only  as  "  followers  "  of  the  gentry.  Yet  the  revo- 
lution of  1688  is  due  to  the  dissenters  quite  as  much  as  to  the 
whig  aristocracy ;  to  Baxter  hardly  less  than  to  Shaftesbury. 
It  is  the  consummation  of  the  collision  which,  in  the  days  of 
Henry  YIII.  and  Edward,  began  between  the  churchmen  and 


596    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  xvni. 

the  Puritans,  between  those  who  invoked  religion  on  the  side 
of  passive  obedience,  and  those  who  held  resistance  to  tyranny 
a  Christian  duty.  If  the  whig  aristocracy  looked  to  the  stad- 
holder  of  aristocratic  Holland  as  the  protector  of  their  liber- 
ties, Baxter  and  the  Presbyterians  saw  in  William  the  Calvin- 
ist  their  tolerant  avenger. 

Of  the  two  great  aristocratic  parties  of  England,  both  re- 
spected the  established  British  constitution.  But  the  tory 
defended  his  privileges  against  the  encroachments  of  advanc- 
ing civilization,  and  asserted  the  indefeasible  rights  of  the 
bishops,  of  the  aristocracy,  and  of  the  king,  against  dissenters, 
republicans,  and  whigs. 

The  whigs  were  bent  on  the  preservation  of  their  privi- 
leges against  the  encroachments  of  the  monarch.  In  an  age 
that  demanded  liberty,  they  gathered  up  every  liberty,  feudal 
or  popular,  known  to  English  law^,  and  sanctioned  by  the  fic- 
titious compact  of  prescription.  In  a  period  of  progress  in 
the  enfranchisement  of  classes,  they  extended  political  influ- 
ence to  the  merchants  and  bankers ;  in  an  age  of  religious 
sects,  they  embraced  the  more  moderate  and  liberal  of  the 
church  of  England,  and  those  of  the  dissenters  whose  dissent 
was  the  least  glaring ;  in  an  age  of  speculative  inquiry,  they 
favored  freedom  of  the  press.  How  vast  was  the  party  is 
evident,  since  it  cherished  among  its  numbers  men  so  oppo- 
site as  Shaftesbury  and  Sidney,  as  Locke  and  Baxter. 

These  two  parties  embraced  almost  all  the  wealth  and 
learning  of  England.  But  there  was  a  third  party  of  those 
who  were  pledged  to  "seek  and  love  and  chuse  the  best 
things."  They  insisted  that  all  penal  statutes  and  tests  should 
be  abolished ;  that,  for  all  classes  of  non-conformists,  whether 
Koman  Catholics  or  dissenters,  for  the  plebeian  sects,  "the 
less  noble  and  more  clownish  sort  of  people,"  "the  unclean 
kind,"  room  should  equally  be  made  in  the  English  ark ;  that 
the  church  of  England,  satisfied  with  its  estates,  should  give 
up  jails,  whips,  halters,  and  gibbets,  and  cease  to  plough  the 
deep  furrows  of  persecution ;  that  the  concession  of  equal 
freedom  would  give  strength  to  the  state,  security  to  the 
prince,  content  to  the  multitude,  wealth  to  the  country,  and 
would  fit  England  for  its  office  of  asserting  European  liberty 


1687-1688.  THE  REYOLUTION  OF  1688.  597 

against  the  ambition  of  France ;  that  reason,  natural  right, 
and  public  interest  demanded  a  glorious  magna  charta  for  in- 
tellectual freedom,  even  though  the  grant  should  be  followed 
by  "a  dissolution  of  the  great  corporation  of  conscience." 
These  were  the  views  which  were  advocated  by  William  Penn 
against  what  he  calls  "  the  prejudices  of  his  times ; "  and 
which  overwhelmed  his  name  with  obloquy  as  a  friend  to 
tyranny  and  a  Jesuit  priest  in  disguise. 

But  the  easy  issue  of  the  contest  grew  out  of  a  division  in 
the  monarchical  party  itself.  James  II.  could  not  compre- 
hend  the  value  of  freedom  or  the  obligation  of  law.  The 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  he  esteemed  inconsistent  with  mon- 
archy, and  "  a  great  misfortune  to  the  people."  A  standing 
army,  and  the  terrors  of  corrupt  tribunals,  were  his  depend- 
ence; he  delighted  in  military  parades;  swayed  by  his  con- 
fessor, he  dispensed  with  the  laws,  multiplied  Catholic  chapels, 
rejoiced  in  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Xantes,  and  sought 
to  intrust  civil  and  military  power  to  Roman  Catholics. 

The  bishops  had  unanimously  voted  against  his  exclusion  ; 
and,  as  the  badge  of  the  church  of  England  was  obedience,  he 
for  a  season  courted  the  alliance  of  "  the  fairest  of  the  spotted 
kind."  To  win  her  favor  for  Roman  Catholics,  he  was  will- 
ing to  persecute  Protestant  dissenters.  This  is  the  period  of 
the  influence  of  Rochester. 

The  church  of  England  refused  the  alliance.  The  king, 
from  1687,  would  put  no  confidence  in  any  zealous  Protes- 
tant ;  he  applauded  the  bigotry  of  Louis  XIY.,  from  whom 
he  solicited  money.  "  I  hope,"  said  he,  "  the  king  of  France 
will  aid  me,  and  that  we  together  shall  do  great  things  for 
religion  ; "  and  the  established  church  became  the  object  of 
his  implacable  hatred.  "  Her  day  of  grace  was  past."  The 
royal  favor  was  withheld,  that  she  might  silently  waste  and 
dissolve  like  snows  in  spring.  To  diminish  her  numbers, 
and  apparently  from  no  other  motive,  he  granted — what  Sun- 
derland might  have  done  from  indifference,  and  Penn  from 
love  of  justice — equal  franchises  to  every  sect ;  to  the  power- 
ful Calvinist  and  to  the  "  puny  "  Quaker,  to  Anabaptists  and 
Independents,  and  "  all  the  wild  increase "  which  unsatisfied 
inquiry  could  generate.     The  declaration  of  indulgence  was 


598  BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    part  ii.  ;  oh.  xviii. 

esteemed  a  death-blow  to  the  church,  and  a  forerunner  of  the 
reconciliation  of  England  to  Rome.  The  franchises  of  Oxford 
were  invaded,  that  Catholics  might  share  in  its  endowments ; 
the  bishops  were  imprisoned,  because  they  would  not  publish 
in  their  churches  the  declaration,  of  which  the  purpose  was 
their  overthrow ;  and,  that  the  system  of  tyranny  might  be 
perpetuated,  heaven,  as  the  monarch  believed,  blessed  his 
pious  pilgrimage  to  St.  Winifred's  well  by  the  pregnancy  of 
his  wife  and  the  birth  of  a  son.  The  party  of  prerogative 
was  trampled  under  foot;  and,  in  their  despair,  they  looked 
abroad  for  the  liberty  which  they  themselves  had  assisted  to 
exile.  The  obedient  church  of  England  set  the  example  of 
rebellion.  Thus  are  the  divine  counsels  perfected.  "  What 
think  you  now  of  predestination  ? "  demanded  William,  as  he 
landed  in  England.  Tories  took  the  lead  in  inviting  the 
prince  of  Orange  to  save  the  English  church ;  the  whigs 
joined  to  rescue  the  privileges  of  the  nobility;  the  Presby- 
terians rushed  eagerly  into  the  only  safe  avenue  to  toleration ; 
the  people  quietly  acquiesced.  On  the  fifth  of  November, 
1688,  William  of  Orange  landed  in  England.  King  James 
was  left  alone  in  his  palace.  His  terrified  priests  escaped  to 
the  continent ;  Sunderland  was  always  false ;  his  confidential 
friends  betrayed  him ;  his  daughter  Anne,  pleading  conscience, 
proved  herself  one  of  his  worst  enemies.  "  God  help  me," 
exclaimed  the  disconsolate  father,  bursting  into  tears,  "my 
very  children  have  forsaken  me ; "  and  his  grief  was  increased 
by  losing  a  piece  of  the  true  wood  of  the  cross,  that  had  be- 
longed to  Edward  the  Confessor.  Paralyzed  by  the  imbecil- 
ity of  doubt,  and  destitute  of  counsellors,  he  fled  beyond  the 
sea.  Aided  by  falsehoods,  the  prince  of  Orange,  without 
striking  a  blow,  ascended  the  throne  of  his  father-in-law ;  and 
Mary,  by  whose  letters  James  was  lulled  into  security,  came 
over  to  occupy  the  throne,  the  palace,  and  the  bed  of  her 
father,  and  sequester  the  inheritance  of  her  brother. 

The  great  news  of  the  invasion  of  England  and  the  declara- 
tion of  the  prince  of  Orange  reached  Boston  on  the  fourth  day 
of  April,  1689.  The  messenger  was  immediately  imprisoned, 
but  his  message  could  not  be  suppressed  ;  and  "  the  preachers 
had  already  matured  the  evil  design  "  of  a  revolution. 


1689.  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.  599 

"  There  is  a  general  buzzing  among  the  people,  great  with 
expectation  of  their  old  charter  or  they  know  not  what : " 
such  was  the  ominous  message  of  Andros  to  Brockholst,  with 
orders  that  the  soldiers  should  be  ready  for  action. 

About  nine  o'clock  of  the  morning  of  the  eighteenth,  just 
as  George,  the  commander  of  the  Rose  frigate,  stepped 
on  shore,  Green  and  the  Boston  ship-carpenters  gathered 
about  him  and  made  him  a  prisoner.  The  town  took  the 
alarm.  The  royalist  sheriff  endeavored  to  quiet  the  multi- 
tude; and  they  arrested  him.  They  next  hastened  to  the 
major  of  the  regiment,  and  demanded  colors  and  drums.  He 
resisted ;  they  threatened.  The  crowd  increased ;  companies 
form  under  Nelson,  Foster,  Waterhouse,  their  old  officers ; 
and  already  at  ten  they  seized  BuUivant,  Foxcroft,  and  Ra- 
venscraft.  Boys  ran  along  the  streets  with  clubs ;  the  drums 
beat ;  the  governor,  with  his  creatures,  meeting  opposition  in 
council,  withdrew  to  the  fort  to  desire  a  conference  with  the 
ministers  and  two  or  three  more.  The  conference  was  de- 
clined. All  the  companies  soon  rallied  at  the  town-house. 
Just  then,  the  last  governor  of  the  colony,  in  office  when  the 
charter  was  abrogated,  Simon  Bradstreet,  glorious  with  the 
dignity  of  fourscore  years  and  seven,  one  of  the  early  emi- 
grants, a  magistrate  in  1630,  whose  experience  connected  the 
oldest  generation  with  the  new,  drew  near  the  town-house, 
and  was  received  by  a  great  shout  from  the  freemen.  The 
old  magistrates  were  reinstated,  as  a  council  of  safety ;  the 
town  rose  in  arms,  "  with  the  most  unanimous  resolution  that 
ever  inspired  a  people ; "  and  a  declaration  read  from  the 
balcony  defended  the  insurrection  as  a  duty  to  God  and  the 
country.  "  We  commit  our  enterprise,"  it  was  added,  "  to 
Him  who  hears  the  cry  of  the  oppressed,  and  advise  all  our 
neighbors,  for  whom  we  have  thus  ventured  ourselves,  to 
joyn  with  us  in  prayers  and  all  just  actions  for  the  defence  of 
the  land." 

On  Charlestown  side  a  thousand  soldiers  crowded  to- 
gether, and  there  would  have  been  more  of  them  if  needed. 
The  governor,  vainly  attempting  to  escape  to  the  frigate,  was, 
with  his  creatures,  compelled  to  seek  protection  by  submis- 
sion;   tiirough  the  streets  where  he  had  first  displayed  his 


600    BRITISH  AMERICA  FROM  1660  TO  1688.    paetii.;  ch.  xviii. 

scarlet  coat  and  arbitrary  commission,  he  and  his  fellows  were 
marched  to  the  town-house,  and  thence  to  prison. 

On  the  next  daj  the  country  people  came  swarming  across 
the  Charlestown  and  Chelsea  ferries,  headed  by  Shepherd,  a 
school-master  of  Lynn.  All  the  cry  was  against  Andros  and 
Randolph.  The  castle  was  taken ;  the  frigate  was  mastered ; 
the  fortifications  were  occupied. 

How  should  a  new  government  be  instituted?  Town- 
meetings,  before  news  had  arrived  of  the  proclamation  of 
William  and  Mary,  were  held  throughout  the  colony.  Of 
fifty-four  towns,  forty  certainly,  probably  more,  voted  to  re- 
assume  the  old  charter.  Representatives  were  chosen,  and, 
on  the  twenty-second  of  May,  Massachusetts  once  more  as- 
sembled in  general  court. 

Already,  on  the  twenty-second  of  April,  Nathaniel  Clark, 
the  agent  of  Andros  at  Plymouth,  was  in  jail ;  Hinckley  re- 
sumed the  government,  and  the  children  of  the  pilgrims 
renewed  the  constitution  which  had  been  unanimously  signed 
in  the  Mayflower. 

The  royalists  had  pretended  that  "  the  Quaker  grandees  " 
of  Rhode  Island  had  imbibed  nothing  of  Quakerism  but  its 
indifference  to  forms,  and  did  not  even  desire  a  restoration  of 
the  charter.  On  May-day,  their  usual  election  day,  the  in- 
habitants and  freemen  poured  into  Newport ;  and  the  *'  de- 
mocracie  "  published  to  the  world  their  gratitude  "  to  the  good 
providence  of  God,  which  had  wonderfully  supported  their 
predecessors  and  themselves  through  more  than  ordinary  diffi- 
culties and  hardships."  "  We  take  it  to  be  our  duty,"  thus 
they  continue,  "  to  lay  hold  of  our  former  gracious  privileges, 
in  our  charter  contained."  And,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  the 
officers,  whom  Andros  had  displaced,  were  confirmed.  But 
Walter  Clarke  wavered.  For  nine  months  there  was  no 
acknowledged  chief  magistrate.  The  assembly,  accepting 
Clarke's  disclaimer,  elected  Almy.  Again  excuse  was  made. 
All  eyes  turned  to  one  of  the  old  Antinomian  exiles,  the 
more  than  octogenarian,  Henry  Bull ;  and,  in  February, 
1690,  the  fearless  Quaker,  true  to  the  light  within,  employed 
the  last  glimmerings  of  life  to  restore  the  democratic  charter 
of  Rhode  Island.     O/nce  more  its  free  government  is  organ- 


1689.  THE  KEVOLUTION  OF  1688.  601 

ized :  its  seal  is  renewed ;  the  symbol,  an  anchor ;  the  motto, 
Hope. 

From  Massachusetts  "  the  amazing  news  did  soon  fly  like 
lightning ;  "  and  the  people  of  Connecticut  spurned  the  gov- 
ernment which  Andros  had  appointed,  and  which  they  had 
always  feared  it  was  a  sin  to  obey.  The  charter  was  resumed ; 
an  assembly  was  convened  ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  Fmis  of 
Andros,  on  the  ninth  of  May,  1689,  new  chapters  were  begun 
in  the  records  of  freedom.  Suffolk  county,  on  Long  Island, 
rejoined  Connecticut. 

New  York  shared  the  impulse,  but  with  less  unanimity. 
"  The  Dutch  plot "  was  matured  by  Jacob  Leisler,  a  native  of 
the  republic  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  a  man  of  energy,  but 
ill-educated,  and  by  his  son-in-law  Milborne.  Led  by  them, 
the  common  people  among  the  Dutch,  with  less  support  from 
the  English  population,  insisted  on  proclaiming  the  stadholder 
of  the  united  provinces  king  of  England. 

In  l^ew  Jersey  there  was  no  insurrection.  The  inhabi- 
tants were  unwilling  to  invoke  the  interference  of  the  pro- 
prietaries. There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  in  the  several 
towns,  officers  were  chosen,  as  before,  by  the  inhabitants 
themselves,  to  regulate  all  local  affairs,  while  the  provincial 
government,  as  established  by  James  II.,  fell  with  Andros. 
The  Mohawks,  kindling  at  the  prospect  of  an  ally,  chanted 
their  loudest  war-song,  and  prepared  to  descend  on  Montreal. 

This  New  England  revolution,  beginning  at  Boston,  ex- 
tended to  the  Chesapeake  and  to  the  wilderness,  and  "  made  a 
great  noise  in  the  world."  Its  object  was  Protestant  liberty ; 
William  and  Mary,  the  Protestant  sovereigns,  were  proclaimed 
with  rejoicings  such  as  America  had  never  before  known  in 
its  intercourse  with  England. 

Could  it  be  that  America  was  deceived  in  her  confidence  ; 
that  she  had  but  substituted  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  parlia- 
ment, which  to  her  would  prove  the  double  despotism  of  a 
commercial  as  well  as  a  landed  aristocracy,  for  the  rule  of 
the  Stuarts  ?  Boston  was  the  centre  of  the  revolution  which 
now  spread  to  the  Chesapeake  ;  in  less  than  a  century  it  will 
begin  ^  revolution  for  humanity,  and  rouse  a  spirit  of  power 
to  emancipate  the  world. 

AOL.    I.— 40 


G02       THE   BRITISH  REVOLUTION  OF   1688.    part  ii  •  oh.xix. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   KESULT   THUS    FAR. 

Thus  have  we  traced,  almost  exclusively  from  contempo- 
rarj  documents  and  records,  the  colonization  of  the  twelve 
oldest  states  of  our  union.  At  the  period  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean revolution  of  1688  they  contained  not  very  many  beyond 
two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  Massachusetts, 
with  Plymouth  and  Maine,  may  have  had  forty-four  thousand  ; 
New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island  with  Providence,  each  six 
thousand ;  Connecticut,  from  seventeen  to  twenty  thousand ; 
that  is,  all  New  England,  seventy-five  thousand  souls;  New 
York,  not  less  than  twenty  thousand ;  New  Jersey,  half  as 
many ;  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  perhaps  twelve  thousand  ; 
Maryland,  twenty-five  thousand ;  Yirginia,  fifty  thousand,  or 
more ;  and  the  two  Carolinas,  which  then  included  the  soil  of 
Georgia,  probably  not  less  than  eight  thousand  souls. 

The  emigration  of  the  fathers  of  these  twelve  common- 
wealths, with  the  planting  of  the  principles  on  which  they 
rested,  though,  like  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into 
Rome,  but  little  regarded  by  contemporary  writers,  was  the 
most  momentous  event  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  elgj: 
TTiftntR  9f  onr  r*.^nntry,  such  as  She  existsto-ctay,  were  already 
there.  ' '     ' 

Of  the  institutions  of  the  Old  World,  monarchy  had  ng 
motive  to  emigrate,  and  was  present  only  by  its  shadow ;  in 
the  proprietary  governments,  by  the  shadow  of  a  shadow. 
The  feudal  aristocracy  had  accomplished  its  mission  in  Europe  ; 
it  could  not  gain  new  life  among  the  equal  conditions  of  the 
wilderness ;  in  at  least  four  of  the  twelve  colonies  it  did  not 
originally  exist  at  all,  and  in  the  rest  had  scarcely  a  mona- 


THE  EESULT  THUS  FAR.  603 

ment  except  in  the  forms  of  holding  property.  Priestcraft 
did  not  emigrate ;  to  the  forests  of  America  religion  came  as 
a  companion ;  the  American  mind  never  bowed  to  an  idolatry 
of  forms ;  and  there  was  not  a  prelate  in  the  English  part  of 
the  continent.  The  municipal  corporations  of  the  European 
commercial  world,  the  close  intrenchments  of  burghers  against 
the  landed  aristocracy,  could  not  be  transferred  to  our  shores, 
where  no  baronial  castles  demanded  the  concerted  opposition 
of  guilds.  Nothing  came  from  Europe  but  a  free  people. 
The  people,  separating  itself  from  all  other  elements  of  previ- 
ous civilization;  the  people,  self -confiding  and  industrious; 
the  people,  wise  by  all  traditions  that  favored  its  culture  and 
happiness — alone  broke  away  from  European  influence,  and  in 
the  New  World  laid  the  foundations  of  our  republic.  Like 
Moses,  as  they  said  of  themselves,  they  had  escaped  from 
Egyptian  bondage  to  the  wilderness,  that  God  might  there 
give  them  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle.  Like  the  favored 
evangelist,  the  exiles,  in  their  western  Patmos,  listened  to 
the  angel  that  dictated  the  new  gospel  of  freedom.  Over- 
whelmed in  Europe,  popular  liberty,  like  the  fabled  foun- 
tain of  the  sacred  Arethusa,  gushed  forth  profusely  in  remoter 
fields. 

Of  the  nations  of  the  European  world,  the  chief  emigra- 
tion was  from  that  Germanic  race  most  famed  for  the  love  of 
personal  independencev  Trie  immense  majority  of  American 
families  were  n^t  of  >^  thelngTrtgTfg'TSif'yuimauQly,''  Ml  wert^ 
of  ^^the  low  men,"  who  were  "Saxons,  iliis  ifi  WUM  f>l  Haw 
England ;  it  is  iriie  of  tke  soutli.  The  Virginians  were 
Anglo-Saxons  in  the  woods  again,  with  the  inherited  culture 
and  intelligence  of  the  seventeenth  century.  "The  major 
part  of  the  house  of  burgesses  now  consisted  of  Yirginians 
that  never  saw  a  town."  The  Anglo-Saxon  mind,  in  its 
serenest  nationality,  neither  distorted  by  fanaticism,  nor  sub- 
dued by  superstition,  nor  wounded  by  persecution,  nor  excited 
by  new  ideas,  but  fondly  cherishing  the  active  instinct  for 
personal  freedom,  secure  possession,  and  legislative  power, 
such  as  belonged  to  it  before  the  reformation,  and  existed 
independent  of  the  reformation,  had  made  its  dwelling-place 
in  the   empire  of   Powhatan.     With   consistent  firmness   of 


604        THE   BEITISH  EEYOLUTION   OF   1688.     paet  ii.  ;  ch.  xix. 

character,  the  Yirginians  welcomed  representative  assemblies ; 
displaced  an  unpopular  governor;  at  the  overthrow  of  mon- 
archy, established  the  freest  government ;  rebelled  against  the 
politics  of  the  Stuarts ;  and,  uneasy  at  the  royalist  principles 
which  prevailed  in  its  forming  aristocracy,  soon  manifested 
the  tendency  of  the  age  at  the  polls. 

The  colonists,  including  their  philosophy  in  their  religion, 
as  the  people  up  to  that  time  had  always  done,  were  neither 
skeptics  nor  sensualists,  but  Christians.  The  school  that  bows 
to  the  senses  as  the  sole  interpreter  of  truth  had  little  share  in 
colonizing  our  America.  The  colonists  from  Maine  to  Caro- 
lina, the  adventurous  companions  of  Smith,  the  proscribed 
Puritans  that  freighted  the  fleet  of  Winthrop,  the  Quaker 
outlaws  that  fled  from  jails  with  a  IsTewgate  prisoner  as  their 
sovereign — all  had  faith  in  God  and  in  the  soul.  The  system 
which  had  been  revealed  in  Judea — the  system  which  com- 
bines and  perfects  the  symbolic  wisdom  of  the  Orient  and  the 
reflective  genius  of  Greece — the  system,  conforming  to  reason, 
yet  kindling  enthusiasm ;  always  hastening  reform,  yet  always 
conservative ;  proclaiming  absolute  equality  among  men,  yet 
not  suddenly  abolishing  the  unequal  institutions  of  society; 
guaranteeing  absolute  freedom,  yet  invoking  the  inexorable 
restrictions  of  duty  ;  in  the  highest  degree  theoretical,  and 
yet  in  the  highest  degree  practical ;  awakening  the  inner  ma^, 
to  a  consciousness  of  his  destiny,  anS  yet  aaapted  witk  exact 
liarmoDy  to  the  outward  world ;  at  once^vine  and  humane — 
this  system  was  professed  in  every  part  of  our  widely  extended 
country,  and  cradled  our  freedom. 

Our  fathers  were  not  only  Christians ;  they  were,  even  in 
Maryland  by  a  vast  majority,  elsewhere  almost  unanimously, 
Protestants.     !N"ow  the  Protestant  reformation,  considered.Ja.. 
its  largest  influence  5^!l_j?^1it^^iftj  :^^.^Jj3P  ^^akening   of  the 
common  people  to  freedoni  of  min^. 

During  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire,  the  oppressed 
invoked  the  power  of  Christianity  to  resist  the  supremacy  of 
brute  force ;  and  the  merciful  priest  assumed  the  office  of  pro- 
tector. The  tribunes  of  Pome,  appointed  by  the  people,  had 
been  declared  inviolable  by  the  popular  vote ;  the  new  trib- 
unes of  humanity,  deriving  their   ofiice  from   religion,  and 


^ 


THE  RESULT  THUS  FAR.  605 

ordained  by  religion  to  a  still  more  venerable  sanctity,  de- 
fended the  poor  man's  house  against  lust  by  the  sacrament  of 
marriage ;  restrained  arbitrary  passion  by  a  menace  of  the 
misery  due  to  sin  unrepented  of  and  unatoned ;  and  taught  re- 
spect for  the  race  by  sprinkling  every  new-born  child  with  the 
water  of  life,  confirming  every  youth,  bearing  the  oil  of  con- 
solation to  every  death-bed,  and  sharing  freely  with  every  hu- 
man being  the  consecrated  emblem  of  God  present  with  man. 

But  from  protectors  priests  grew  to  be  usurpers.  Express- 
ing all  moral  truth  by  the  mysteries  of  symbols,  and  reserving 
to  themselves  the  administration  of  seven  sacraments,  they 
claimed  a  monopoly  of  thought  and  exercised  an  absolute 
spiritual  dominion.  Human  bondage  was  strongly  riveted; 
for  they  had  fastened  it  on  the  affections,  the  understanding, 
and  the  reason.  Ordaining  their  own  successors,  they  ruled 
human  destiny  at  birth,  on  entering  active  life,  at  marriage, 
when  frailty  breathed  its  confession,  when  faith  aspired  to 
communion  with  God,  and  at  death. 

The  fortunes  of  the  human  race  are  embarked  in  a  life- 
boat and  cannot  be  wrecked.  Mind  refuses  to  rest ;  and  active 
freedom  is  a  necessary  condition  of  intelligent  existence. 
The  instinctive  love  of  truth  could  warm  even  the  scholastic 
theologian;  but  the  light  which  it  kindled  for  him  was  op- 
pressed by  verbal  erudition,  and  its  flickering  beams,  scarce 
lighting  the  cell  of  the  solitary,  could  not  fill  the  colonnade 
of  the  cloister,  far  less  reach  the  busy  world. 

Sensualism  also  was  free  to  mock  superstition.  Scoffing 
infidelity  put  on  the  cardinal's  hat,  and  made  even  the  Vatican 
ring  with  ribaldry.  But  the  indifference  of  dissoluteness  has 
no  creative  power  ;  it  does  but  substitute  the  despotism  of  the 
senses  for  a  spiritual  despotism  ;  it  never  brought  enfranchise- 
ments to  the  multitude. 

The  feudal  aristocracy  resisted  spiritual  authority  by  the 
sword ;  but  it  was  only  to  claim  greater  license  for  their  own 
violence.  Temporal  sovereigns,  jealous  of  a  power  which 
threatened  to  depose  the  unjust  prince,  were  ready  to  set  prel- 
acy against  prelacy,  the  national  church  against  the  Catholic 
church  ;  but  it  was  only  to  assert  the  absolute  liberty  of  des- 
potism. 


606        THE  BRITISH  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.    paet  n. ;  oh.  xix 

By  slow  degrees,  the  students  of  the  humanities,  as  they 
were  called,  polished  scholars,  learned  lessons  of  freedom  from 
Grecian  and  Koman  example ;  but  they  hid  their  patriotism 
in  a  dead  language,  and  forfeited  the  claim  to  higher  influence 
and  enduring  fame  by  suppressing  truth,  and  yielding  inde- 
pendence to  the  interests  of  priests  and  princes. 

Human  enfranchisement  could  not  advance  securely  but 
through  the  people ;  for  whom  philosophy  was  included  in 
religion,  and  religion  veiled  in  symbols.  There  had  ever  been 
within  the  Catholic  church  men  who  preferred  truth  to  forms, 
justice  to  despotic  force.  "  Dominion,"  said  Wycliffe,  "  be- 
longs to  grace,"  meaning,  as  I  believe,  that  the  feudal  govern- 
ment, which  rested  on  the  sword,  should  yield  to  a  government 
resting  on  moral  principles.  And  he  knew  the  right  method 
to  hasten  the  coming  revolution.  "  Truth,"  he  asserted  with 
wisest  benevolence,  "truth  shines  more  brightly  the  more 
widely  it  is  diffused ; "  and,  catching  the  plebeian  language 
that  lived  on  the  lips  of  the  multitude,  he  gave  England  the 
Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  A  timely  death  could  alone  place 
him  beyond  persecution ;  his  bones  were  disinterred  and  burnt, 
and  his  ashes  thrown  on  the  waters  of  the  Avon.  But  his 
fame  brightens  as  time  advances ;  when  America  traces  the 
lineage  of  her  intellectual  freedom,  she  acknowledges  the  bene- 
factions of  Wycliffe. 

In  the  next  century,  a  kindred  spirit  emerged  in  Bohemia, 
and  tyranny,  quickened  by  the  nearer  approach  of  danger, 
summoned  John  Huss  to  its  tribunal,  set  on  his  head  a  huge 
paper  mitre  begrimed  with  hobgoblins,  permitted  the  bishops 
to  strip  him  and  curse  him,  and  consigned  one  of  the  gentlest 
and  purest  of  our  race  to  the  flames.  "  Holy  simplicity ! "  ex- 
claimed he,  as  a  peasant  piled  fagots  on  the  fire ;  still  preserv- 
ing faith  in  humanity,  though  its  noblest  instincts  could  be  so 
peirverted ;  and,  perceiving  the  only  mode  through  which  re- 
form could  prevail,  he  gave  as  a  last  counsel  to  his  multitude 
of  followers :  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes."  Of  the  de- 
scendants of  his  Bohemian  disciples,  a  few  certainly  came  to 
us  by  way  of  Holland;  his  example  was  for  all. 

Years  are  as  days  in  the  providence  of  G-od  and  in  the 
progress  of  the  race.     After  long  waiting,  an  Augustine  monk 


THE  KESULT  THUS  FAR,  607 

at  Wittenberg,  who  loathed  the  lewd  corruptions  of  the  Ro- 
man court  and  the  deceptions  of  a  coarse  superstition,  brooded 
in  his  cell  over  the  sins  of  his  age  and  the  method  of  rescuing 
conscience  from  the  dominion  of  forms,  till  he  discovered  a 
cure  for  these  vices  in  the  simple  idea  of  justification  bj  faith 
alone.  With  this  principle,  easily  intelligible  to  the  universal 
mind,  and  spreading,  like  an  epidemic,  widely  and  rapidly — a 
principle  strong  enough  to  dislodge  every  superstition,  to  over- 
turn every  tyranny,  to  enfranchise,  convert,  and  save  the  world 
— he  broke  the  wand  of  papal  supremacy,  scattered  the  lazars 
of  the  monasteries,  and  drove  the  penance  of  fasts  and  the 
terrors  of  purgatory,  masses  for  the  dead  and  indulgences  for 
the  living,  into  the  paradise  of  fools.  That  his  principle  con- 
tained a  democratic  revolution  Luther  saw  clearly ;  he  ac- 
knowledged that  "the  rulers  and  the  lawyers  needed  a  re- 
former ;  "  but  he  "  could  not  hope  that  they  would  soon  get  a 
wise  one,"  and  in  a  stormy  age,  leaving  to  futurity  its  office, 
accepted  shelter  from  feudal  sovereigns.  "  It  is  a  heathenish 
doctrine,"  such  was  his  compromise  with  princes,  "  that  a 
wicked  ruler  may  be  deposed."  "  Do  not  pipe  to  the  popu- 
lace, for  it  anyhow  delights  in  running  mad."  "  God  lets 
rogues  rule  for  the  people's  sin."  "  A  crazy  populace  is  a 
desperate,  cursed  thing ;  a  tyrant  is  the  right  clog  to  tie  on 
that  dog's  neck."  And  yet,  adds  Luther,  "  I  have  no  word  of 
comfort  for  the  usurers  and  scoundrels  among  the  aristocracy, 
whose  vices  make  the  common  people  esteem  the  whole  aris- 
tocracy to  be  out  and  out  worthless."  And  he  praised  the 
printing-press  as  the  noblest  gift  of  human  genius.  He  for- 
bade priests  and  bishops  to  make  laws  how  men  shall  believe  ; 
for,  said  he,  "  man's  authority  stretches  neither  to  heaven  nor 
to  the  soul."  Kor  did  he  leave  Truth  to  droop  in  a  cloister  or 
wither  in  a  palace,  but  carried  her  forth  in  her  freedom  to  the 
multitude ;  and,  when  tyrants  ordered  the  German  peasantry 
to  deliver  up  their  Saxon  IS'ew  Testament,  "  No,"  cried  Luther, 
"  not  a  single  leaf."  He  pointed  out  the  path  in  which  civil- 
ization should  travel,  though  he  could  not  go  on  to  the  end  of 
the  journey. 

In  pursuing  the  history  of  our  country,  we  shall  hereafter 
xneet  in  the  Lutheran  kingdom  of  Prussia,  of  which  the  dynasty 


608       THE   BRITISH  REVOLUTION   OF  1688.     paet  ii.  ;  oh.  xix. 

had  become  Calvinistic,  at  one  time  an  ally,  at  another  a  neu- 
tral friend.  The  direct  influence  of  Lutheranism  on  America 
was  inconsiderable.  'New  Sweden  alone  had  the  faith  and  the 
politics  of  the  German  reformer. 

As  the  New  World  sheltered  neither  bishops  nor  princes, 
in  respect  to  political  opinion,  the  Anglican  church  in  Virginia 
was  but  an  enfranchisement  from  popery,  favoring  humanity 
and  freedom.  The  inhabitants  of  Yirginia  were  conformists 
df  ter  the  pattern  of  Sandys  and  of  Southampton  rather  than 
of  Whitgift  and  Laud.  Of  themselves  they  asked  no  ques- 
tions about  the  surplice,  and  never  wore  the  badge  of  non- 
resisting  obedience. 

The  meaner  and  more  ignoble  the  party,  the  more  general 
and  comprehensive  are  its  principles ;  for  none  but  principles 
of  universal  freedom  can  reach  the  meanest  condition.  The 
serf  defends  the  widest  philanthropy ;  for  that  alone  can  break 
his  bondage.  The  plebeian  sect  of  Anabaptists,  "  the  scum  of 
the  reformation,"  with  greater  consistency  than  Luther,  applied 
the  doctrine  of  the  reformation  to  the  social  relations  of  life^ 
and  threatened  an  end  to  kingcraft,  spiritual  dominion,  tithes, 
and  vassalage.  The  party  was  trodden  under  foot,  with  foul 
reproaches  and  most  arrogant  scorn ;  and  its  history  is  writ- 
ten in  the  blood  of  myriads  of  the  German  peasantry  ;  but 
its  principles,  safe  in  their  immortality,  escaped  with  Roger 
Williams  to  Providence ;  and  his  colony  is  the  witness  that, 
naturally,  the  paths  of  the  Baptists  were  paths  of  freedom; 
pleasantness,  and  peace. 

Luther  finished  his  mission  in  the  heart  of  Germany  under 
the  safeguard  of  princes.  In  Geneva,  a  republic  on  the  con- 
fines of  France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  Calvin,  the  great  refugee 
from  France,  appealing  to  the  people  for  support,  carried 
forward  and  organized  the  reform. 

The  political  character  of  Calvinism,  which,  with  one  con- 
sent and  with  instinctive  judgment,  the  monarchs  of  that  day, 
except  that  of  Prussia,  feared  as  republicanism,  and  which 
Charles  II.  declared  a  religion  unfit  for  a  gentleman,  is  ex- 
pressed in  a  single  word — ^predestination.  Did  a  proud  aris- 
tocracy trace  its  lineage  through  generations  of  a  high-born 
ancestry,  the  republican  reformer,  with  a  loftier  pride,  invaded 


THE  RESULT  THUS  FAR.  609 

the  invisible  world,  and  from  the  book  of  life  brought  down 
the  record  of  the  noblest  rank,  decreed  from  all  eternity  by 
the  King  of  kings.  His  converts  defied  the  opposing  world 
as  a  world  of  reprobates,  whom  God  had  despised  and  reject- 
ed. To  them  the  senses  were  a  totally  depraved  foundation, 
on  which  neither  truth  nor  goodness  could  rest.  They  went 
forth 'in  confidence  that  men  who  were  kindling  with  the  same 
exalted  instincts  would  listen  to  their  voice,  and  be  effectually 
"called  into  the  brunt  of  the  battle"  by  their  side.  And, 
standing  serenely  amid  the  crumbling  fabrics  of  centuries  of 
superstitions,  they  had  faith  in  one  another ;  and  the  martyr- 
doms of  Cambray,  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  the  suiTender  of 
benefices  by  two  thousand  non-conforming  Presbyterians,  at- 
test their  perseverance. 

Such  was  the  system  which,  for  a  century  and  a  half, 
assumed  the  guardianship  of  liberty  for  the  English  world. 
"  A  wicked  tyrant  is  better  than  a  wicked  war,"  said  Luther, 
preaching  non-resistance  ;  and  Cranmer  echoed  back :  "  God's 
people  are  called  to  render  obedience  to  governors,  although 
they  be  wicked  or  wrong-doers,  and  in  no  case  to  resist." 
English  Calvinism  reserved  the  right  of  resisting  tyranny. 
To  advance  intellectual  freedom,  Calvinism  denied,  absolutely 
denied,  the  sacrament  of  ordination,  thus  breaking  up  the 
great  monopoly  of  priestcraft,  and  knowing  no  master,  media- 
tor, or  teacher  but  the  eternal  reason.  "  Kindle  the  fire  before 
my  face,"  said  Jerome,  meekly,  as  he  resigned  himself  to  his 
fate;  to  quench  the  fires  of  persecution  forever,  Calvinism 
resisted  with  fire  and  blood,  and,  shouldering  the  musket, 
proved,  as  a  foot-soldier,  that,  on  the  field  of  battle,  the  inven- 
tion of  gunpowder  had  levelled  the  plebeian  and  the  knight; 
To  restrain  absolute  monarchy  in  France,  in  Scotland,  in  Eng- 
land, it  allied  itself  with  the  party  of  the  past,  the  decaying 
feudal  aristocracy,  which  it  was  sure  to  outlive ;  for  protection 
against  feudal  aristocracy,  it  infused  itself  into  the  mercantile 
class  and  the  inferior  gentry ;  to  secure  a  life  in  the  public 
mind,  in  Geneva,  in  Scotland,  wherever  it  gained  dominion,  it 
invoked  intelligence  for  the  people,  and  in  every  parish  planted 
the  common  school. 

In  an  age  of  commerce,  to  stamp  its  influence  on  the  New 


610        THE  BRITISH  REVOLUTION   OF   1688.     paet  ii. ;  ch.  xix. 

World,  it  went  on  board  the  fleet  of  Winthrop,  and  was  wafted 
to  the  bay  of  Massachusetts.  Is  it  denied  that  events  follow 
principles,  that  mind  rules  the  world  ?  The  institutions  of  Mas- 
sachusetts were  the  exact  counterpart  of  its  religious  system. 
Calvinism  claimed  heaven  for  the  elect ;  Massachusetts  gave 
franchises  to  the  members  of  the  visible  church,  and  inexor- 
ably disfranchised  churchmen,  royalists,  and  all  world's  people. 
Calvinism  overthrew  priestcraft ;  in  Massachusetts,  none  but  the 
magistrate  could  marry ;  the  brethren  could  ordain.  Calvinism 
saw  in  goodness  infinite  joy,  in  evil  infinite  woe,  and,  recog- 
nising no  other  abiding  distinctions,  opposed  secretly  but  surely 
hereditary  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  bondage  ;  Massachusetts 
owned  no  king  but  the  king  of  heaven,  no  aristocracy  but  of 
the  redeemed,  no  bondage  but  the  hopeless,  infinite,  and  eter- 
nal bondage  of  sin.  Calvinism  invoked  intelligence  against 
satan,  the  great  enemy  of  the  human  race ;  and  the  farmers 
and  seamen  of  Massachusetts  nourished  its  college  with  gifts 
of  com  and  strings  of  wampum,  and  wherever  there  were 
families,  built  the  free  school.  Calvinism,  in  its  zeal  against 
Rome,  reverenced  the  bible  even  to  idolatry ;  and,  in  Massa- 
chusetts, the  songs  of  Deborah  and  David  were  sung  without 
change;  hostile  Algonkins,  like  the  Canaanites,  were  exter- 
minated or  enslaved ;  and  wretched  innocents  were  hanged, 
because  it  was  written,  "  The  witch  shall  die." 

"  Do  not  stand  still  with  Luther  and  Calvin,"  said  Robin- 
son, the  father  of  the  pilgrims,  confident  in  human  advance- 
ment. From  Luther  to  Calvin  there  was  progress;  from 
GencTa  to  ISTew  England  there  was  more.  Calvinism,  as  a 
political  power,  in  an  age  when  politics  were  controlled  by 
religious  sects;  Calvinism,  such  as  it  existed,  in  opposition  to 
prelacy  and  feudalism,  could  not  continue  in  a  world  where 
there  was  no  prelacy  to  combat,  no  aristocracy  to  overthrow. 
It  therefore  received  developments  which  were  imprinted  on 
institutions.  It  migrated  to  the  Connecticut ;  and  there,  for- 
getting its  foes,  it  put  off  its  armor  of  religious  pride.  "  You 
go  to  receive  your  reward,"  was  said  to  Hooker  on  his  death- 
bed. "I  go  to  receive  mercy,"  was  his  reply.  For  predes- 
tination Connecticut  substituted  benevolence.  It  hanged  no 
Quakers,  it  mutilated  no  heretics.     Its  early  legislation  is  the 


THE   RESULT  THUS  FAR.  61 1 

breath  of  reason  and  charity ;  and  Jonathan  Edwards  did  but 
sum  up  the  political  history  of  his  native  commonwealth  for  a 
century,  when,  anticipating,  and  in  his  consistency  excelling, 
Godwin  and  Bentham,  he  gave  Calvinism  its  political  eutha- 
nasia, by  declaring  virtue  to  consist  in  universal  love. 

In  Boston,  with  Henry  Yane  and  Anne  Hutchinson,  "  Cal- 
vinism ran  to  seed ; "  and  the  seed  was  "  incorruptible."  Elec- 
tion implies  faith,  and  faith  freedom.  Claiming  the  spirit  of 
God  as  the  companion  of  man,  the  Antinomians  asserted  abso- 
lute freedom  of  mind.  For  predestination  they  substituted 
consciousness.  "  If  the  ordinances  be  all  taken  away,  Christ 
cannot  be ; "  the  forms  of  truth  may  perish ;  truth  itself  is 
immortal.  "  God  will  be  ordinances  to  us."  The  exiled  doc- 
trine, which  established  conscience  as  the  highest  court  of  ap- 
peal, fled  to  the  island  gift  of  Miantonomoh;  and  the  records 
of  Rhode  Island  are  the  commentary  on  the  true  import  of 
the  creed. 

Faith  in  predestination  alone  divided  the  Antinomians 
from  the  Quakers.  Both  reverenced  and  obeyed  the  voice  of 
conscience  in  its  freedom.  The  near  resemblance  was  per- 
ceived so  soon  as  the  fame  of  George  Fox  i^ached  America ; 
and  the  principal  followers  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  Coddington, 
Mary  Dyar,  Henry  Bull,  and  a  majority  of  the  people,  avowed 
themselves  to  be  Quakers. 

The  principle  of  freedom  of  mind,  first  asserted  for  the 
common  people,  under  a  religious  form,  by  Wycliffe,  had  been 
pursued  by  a  series  of  plebeian  societies,  till  it  at  last  reached 
a  perfect  development,  coinciding  with  the  highest  attainment 
of  European  philosophy. 

By  giving  a  welcome  to  every  sect,  America  was  safe 
against  narrow  bigotry.  At  the  same  time,  the  moral  duty  of 
the  forming  nation  was  not  impaired.  Of  the  various  parties 
into  which  the  reformation  divided  the  people,  each,  from  the 
proudest  to  the  humblest,  rallied  round  a  truth.  But,  as  truth 
never  contradicts  itself,  the  collision  of  sects  could  but  elimi- 
nate error  ;  and  the  American  mind,  in  the  largest  sense  eclec- 
tic, struggled  for  universality,  while  it  asserted  freedom.  How 
had  the  world  been  governed  by  despotism  and  bigotry ;  by 
superstition  and  the  sword ;  by  the  ambition  of  conquest  and 


612        THE  BRITISH  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.    paetii.^  ch.  xix. 

the  pride  of  privilege !  And  now  tlie  happy  age  gave  birth 
to  a  people,  which  was  to  own  no  authority  as  the  highest  but 
the  free  conviction  of  the  public  mind. 

^  Thus  had  JbJurope  given  to  America  her  sons  and  her  cul- 
ture. She  was  the  mother  of  our  men,  and  of  the  ideas  which 
guided  them  to  greatness.  The  relations  of  our  country  to 
humanity  were  already  wider.  The  three  race^^the  Caucasian, 
the  Ethiopian,  and  the  American — were  in  presence  of  one  an- 
other on  our  soil.  Would  th\redinan  disappear  entirely 
from  the  forests,  which  for  thousands  of  years  had  sheltered 
him  safely  \  Would  the  black  man,  in  the  end,  be  benefited 
by  the  crimes  of  mercantile  avarice  ?  At  the  close  of  the 
middle  age,  the  Caucasian  race  was  in  nearly  exclusive  posses- 
sion of  the  elements  of  civilization,  while  the  Ethiopian  re- 
mained in  insulated  barbarism.  No  commerce  connected  it 
with  Europe ;  no  intercourse  existed  by  travel,  by  letters,  or 
by  war ;  it  was  too  feeble  to  attempt  an  invasion  of  a  Christian 
prince  or  an  Arab  dyna&ty.  The  slave-trade  united  the  races 
by  an  indissoluble  bond  ;  the  first  ship  that  brought  Africans 
to  America  was  a  sure  pledge  that,  in  due  time,  ships  from 
the  !N^ew  World  would  carry  the  equal  blessings  of  Christianity 
to  the  burning  plains  of  Mgritia,  that  descendants  of  Africans 
would  aspire  to  the  benefits  of  European  civilization. 

That  America  should  benefit  the  African  was  always  the 
excuse  for  the  slave-trade.  Would  America  benefit  Europe  ? 
The  probable  influence  of  the  [N'ew  World  on  the  Old  became 
a  prize  question  at  Paris ;  but  not  one  of  the  writers  divined 
the  true  answer.  They  looked  for  it  in  commerce,  in  mines, 
in  natural  productions ;  and  they  should  have  looked  for  revo- 
lutions, as  a  consequence  of  moral  power.  The  Greek  colo- 
nists planted  free  and  prosperous  cities ;  and,  in  a  following 
century,  each  metropolis,  envying  the  happiness  of  its  daugh- 
ters, imitated  its  institutions,  and  rejected  kings.  Rome,  a 
nation  of  soldiers,  planted  colonies  by  the  sword,  and  retribu- 
tive justice  merged  its  liberties  in  absolute  despotism.  The 
American  colonists  founded  their  institutions  on  popular  free- 
dom, and  "set  an  example  .to  the  nations."  Already  the  ple- 
beian outcasts,  the  Anglo-Saxon  emigrants,  were  the  hope  of 
the  world.     We  are  like  the  Parthians,  said  Norton  in  Boston ; 


THE  EESULT  THUS  FAE.  613 

our  arrows  wound  the  more  for  our  flight.     "  Jotham  upon 
Mount  Gerizim  is  bold  to  utter  his  apologue." 

We  have  written  the  origin  of  our  country ;  we  are  now 
to  pursue  the  history  of  its  wardship.  The  relations  of  the 
rising  colonies,  the  representatives  of  democratic  freedom,  are 
chiefly  with  France  and  England ;  with  the  monarchy  of 
France,  which  was  the  representative  of  absolute  despotism, 
having  subjected  the  three  estates  of  the  realm,  the  clergy  by 
a  treaty  with  the  pope,  feudalism  by  standing  armies,  the  com- 
munal institutions  by  executive  patronage  and  a  vigorous  po- 
lice ;  with  the  parliament  of  England,  which  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  aristocratic  liberties,  and  had  ratified  royalty, 
primogeniture,  corporate  charters,  the  peerage,  tithes,  prelates, 
prescriptive  franchises,  and  every  established  immunity  and 
privilege.  The  three  nations  and  the  three  systems  were,  by 
the  revolution  of  1688,  brought  into  direct  contrast  with  one 
another.  At  the  same  time,  the  English  world  was  lifted  out 
of  theological  forms,  and  entered  upon  the  career  of  commerce, 
which  had  been  prepared  by  the  navigation  acts  and  by  the 
mutual  treaties  for  colonial  monopoly  with  France  and  Spain. 
The  period  through  which  we  have  passed  shows  why  w^e  are 
a  free  people ;  the  coming  period  will  show  why  we  are  a 
united  people.  We  shall  have  no  tales  to  relate  of  more  ad- 
venture than  in  the  early  period  of  Virginia,  none  of  more 
sublimity  than  of  the  pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  But  we  are 
about  to  enter  on  a  wider  theatre  ;  and,  as  we  trace  the  prog- 
ress of  commercial  ambition  through  events  which  shook  the 
globe  from  the  wilds  beyond  the  Alleghanies  to  the  ancient 
abodes  of  civilization  in  Hindostan,  we  shall  still  see  that  the 
selfishness  of  evil  defeats  itself,  and  God  rules  in  the  affairs  of 
men. 


END   OF   VOLUME  I. 
or  TaB 

UNIVERSITT 


\ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORKOWED 


14  DAY  USE 

it  RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL  NO.  642-3405 

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University  of  California 

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